Mortality
by Bella The Strange
Summary: AU-spinoff-sequel...thing to Female of the Species. Will make no sense unless you've read at least the first 10 chapters of that. Jack Harkness returns to Torchwood, but something is very different about... her?
1. Never Doing That Again

**Disclaimer**: None of this is mine, do you really think what happened to Ianto in CoE would have happened if I owned Torchwood?

**Author's Note**: After I wrote chapter 10 of my _Female of the Species _ story, this idea wouldn't leave me alone. Basically, this story depends on one plot-point in the chapter I just mentioned being changed. It's probably a bit OOC for the Master (especially as I usually write him), but worth it to get this out of my head and onto a computer instead.  
This will make no sense unless you read the first 10 chapters of _Female of the Species _ before this... but just to be doubly sure, I will try to do a brief recap here, as well.

**Rant about timelines**: The Doctor Who Wiki site I rely heavily on for spurious information seems a bit off about when it said Torchwood Series Two was supposed to have happened... 'cause it seemed obvious to me that it shoulda started very shortly after the whole thing with the Master and the Toclafane. I know the team said Jack was gone for some time, but I figured that him disappearing at the end of Series One was long enough ago without adding another half a year or so after the Master was defeated before KKBB, like the Wiki site seems to think. Besides, I needed more time between the existing episodes for my plot to make sense... so yeah. I've set my own timeline for the series, in this story, which I still think works just fine.

Dedicated to my lovely beta, bambieyes1234, who also co-wrote a few scenes with me (a lot of what's said by Rhys is her work) I love you, girl!

**WARNING**: Time-travel. I'm serious, when I write time-travel, it's more complex than most people are comfortable with. I do paradoxes, characters showing up before they were there last time, etc. It's fun, but can get confusing. You have been warned.

**WARNING 2**: In later chapters there will be Jack/Ianto (does this even count as slash? I don't think so... and I don't see how Torchwood fans can complain about me using a canon pairing, still seems the decent thing to do, to warn off slash-ophobics). Some of it might even classify as fluffiness, but not much I swear!

x x x

**Chapter 1: Never Doing That Again**

x x x

It had been over an hour since they had returned to the TARDIS, having acquired the Varisian gun which would be able to change both the Doctor and Captain Jack back to their normal selves. The weapon in question had turned both of them into women... but it really was completely reversible, now that they had the technology in their possession.

The inconvenience of having been captured by the Master _before _ recovering the weapon had been a minor irritation to the Doctor, and she was quite sure that it had actually made him a far easier mark for attempted subterfuge when she had eventually escaped. He always had underestimated women. Quite a spectacular mistake on his part, really.

Unfortunately, Jack had been hit by the same weapon, during their attempt to acquire it. Not that it appeared to be a new experience for the Captain... her first words upon waking up as a woman had been "Oh no, not again!" after all. And shortly following those words had been several lewd suggestions about what she would like to do with her temporarily female body. At first, the Doctor had been curious about how, when, and why Jack had been turned into a female before, but then decided she was probably better off not knowing.

The Doctor had finally finished setting the weapon to restore them both to normal, now. Not that she would use it on herself right away... partly because of that aforementioned brilliant little detail that the Master tended to underestimate women, and she could think of several ways to use that to her advantage in the inevitable psychological war that would break out between the two of them, as soon as the two humans left the TARDIS.

But now, she went in search of Jack, to at least restore some semblance of normality- relatively speaking- to the immortal Captain. The Master had disappeared soon after they had entered the TARDIS, and Jack had followed to "make sure he doesn't do anything too evil". That was a loaded statement if ever the Doctor had heard one.

Considering the fact she had been looking for them for twenty minutes, the Doctor was now getting very annoyed at the TARDIS. Corridors led in circles, and there was no sign of the two. Martha had gone in search of lunch, and found the kitchen on the second door to the left after leaving the lab, but the Doctor was now beginning to feel a bit unsettled by this deliberate attempt at misdirection.

Finally, she found a familiar door- the T.V. room- and walked in. The first thing she saw here was the Master was perched on the arm of the couch, watching the couch itself with bemusement and mild disdain. The next thing to strike at her senses was the smell in the room. She immediately stopped breathing, in order to avoid that, and attempt to deny the obvious conclusion such a scent should lead to.

Not that it was easy to deny. They wouldn't- well, Jack might... but no, the Master was a homicidal maniac, what would she see in him? And the Master wouldn't, either. Why would he?

Her own denial sounded incredibly weak, even to her own mind... it was quite obvious that it _had _ happened, whether she could understand why or not. As she walked further into the room, she saw the female Jack Harkness laying back on the couch looking far too pleased with herself. Well, at least they both had the decency to be fully clothed when she found them... but perhaps she had the TARDIS' evasiveness to thank for that.

"You didn't...?" the Doctor asked, glancing from one to the other, her eyes wide with shock.

"It was her idea." the Master sneered coldly.

Jack looked up at the Doctor, smiling and blinking innocently. The expression entirely failed in its purpose, and when she realised that, Jack sat up, stretching and arching her back, "I've been trying to lay a Time Lord for about a hundred and forty years, are you at all surprised?" she asked bluntly. So that was her reason? Very shallow, but also very like Jack.

The Doctor wrinkled her nose in mild disgust, "I'm surprised at him." she retorted. It was true. Time Lords were not known for sexual desires. In fact, she was pretty sure the Master was the only one she knew who had ever expressed any interest in such things. Admittedly, the Doctor had been drawn to a few of his companions in the past, but in a romantic context more than anything like this.

"Bit of advice..." the Master said bluntly, "Never let her get her legs around you. You ever watched that James Bond movie with the assassin woman who could kill you with the pressure of her thighs?"

"Too much TV, Master." Jack said blithely, but grinning a bit too smugly, all the same, "Although I take that as a compliment."

"Too much information." the Doctor muttered, shaking her head as she turned to leave the room, "Both of you, follow me."

She was barely two steps down the corridor before Jack caught up with her, "Where're we going?"

"The medical bay." the Doctor answered calmly.

"Why?" Jack asked blankly, "Isn't that the gender-bender gun right there? Have you fixed it yet?"

"Yes, and yes." the Doctor said with a nod, "But now you need a couple of scans before I'm going to use it." The expression on her face was completely open, eyes wide, clearly saying Jack was an idiot for not already realising this before.

Jack tripped over her own feet at that, barely staying standing as she turned and stepped into the Doctor's path, "What?" she demanded, her tone significantly higher pitched than even her new feminine voice should be, clearly showing her shock and horror.

The Doctor, who had stopped walking when Jack had stepped in her way, scowled at her, "Time Lords and humans are biologically compatible." and she side-stepped the dumbstruck human, quickly continuing to walk towards the medbay.

She heard someone behind her being struck by what sounded like a very solid punch, and then Jack's voice all but shrieking, "Why didn't you tell me that?"

And she heard the Master blithely answering, "Must have slipped my mind."

x x x

It had been twenty-four hours since her experiment on the subject of Time Lord sexuality, and Jack Harkness was now sitting in the medbay of the TARDIS, experiencing a terminal case of boredom. The initial scans had shown nothing unusual, but now the Doctor was insisting that they run another test or three. Blood test, some high-tech scanner thing, and the typical human method of urinating on a stick.

At least the last time Jack had been impregnated by an alien had been pretty damned obvious, pretty damned quickly. The gestation period had only been six weeks, ending when the alien offspring went through a metamorphosis that made it ethereal, allowing it to phase out and leave its corporeal host without any semblance of pain.

According to what she'd paid attention to of the Doctor's constant stream of semi-medical technobabble, Time Lord pregnancies A; weren't supposed to happen, because female Time Lords were infertile, B; according to historical records before the 'curse' that had caused this problem, it involved a lot less discomfort than a human pregnancy, and 3... or C; lasted about the same length of time as the human version.

Jack did her best to tune it out. What were the odds of it actually happening, anyway?

When you deliberately try, a million to one... when you don't want it, abso-bloody-lutely guaranteed. That was the unpleasant thought that she found herself answering her own question with.

"Can't believe you didn't warn me." Jack grumbled, glaring at the Master. This was entirely his fault. Jack would have been back to his usual self by now if the Master had followed the previous pattern of reacting with highly insulted indignity to Jack's come-ons.

Or better yet, a little warning would have allowed her to protect herself. Fifty-first century human biology had evolved to actually acknowledge the concept of sex for pleasure, and it was possible- with only a few seconds of concentration before the act- to engage a natural form of contraception that was pretty much fool-proof. And after the last time he'd been turned into a she, Jack had carefully researched the female perspective of fifty-first century sex-ed, to ensure that such an accident would never happen.

Okay, maybe she should have just done that, anyway. Maybe it was partly her own fault. It still didn't make her any less offended by the fact the Master was all but laughing at her predicament right now.

Still, there was a chance the tests would all come up negative... then she could test the Master's theory of comparing her to Xenia Onatopp, by attempting to asphyxiate him.

"Alright, I've finished all the tests." the Doctor announced, as if in direct answer to Jack's thoughts.

"And?"

"You're pregnant."

Jack swore quite creatively, spending about twenty seconds describing obscene things that the Master should go and do with rabid llamas.

When she finally ceased her outburst, the Master pointed out, "It's your own fault, you know."

Jack glared at him, "I'm not going to kill you. For reasons I cannot comprehend, the Doctor seems to think that you deserve to live. But I have a great deal of experience in the art of torture, and I will make you suffer for this."

"Jack." the Doctor warned, and she calmed down just a bit.

"It's really not... that big a problem." Jack tried to reassure herself, "I'll save the death-threats for when I'm giving birth." at the blank look both Time Lords gave her for this, she shrugged, "Human tradition." A rather morbid grin crossed her face, "I've been told it hurts like hell, and most human women do make death-threats to the man responsible for their pain, during that part of the process."

"You know this from personal experience, or television?" the Master asked.

"Well... both." Jack answered, with a slight shrug, "When my daughter was born, her mother actually _did _ kill me for it... but she knew I was immortal, and it did make her feel better about it."

The Master blinked, "You have a daughter? Why did I not know this?" the words 'and use it against you while I ruled the world' went without saying at the end of that question.

"Witness protection program." Jack said rather coldly. That and Jack really was not sure if she had even survived the initial attack by the Toclafane... not that she wanted to think about _that _ possibility, now that it hadn't happened anymore.

A few seconds of silence passed, while the Doctor diligently pretended not to be paying attention to either of them, tidying up things that really didn't need it, around the medbay. The Master finally spoke, then, "So you want to keep it?"

"Would be seriously cruel and selfish not to, now wouldn't it?" Jack asked, grinning. It was only slightly forced, she was still quite completely terrified at this idea, but she believed every word she was saying, now, "What with the fact that you are the last two of your kind. So what if our kid'll be a half-breed, still a Time Lord, right?"

"Of course." the Master said, nodding slowly. His expression was carefully blank, and Jack really couldn't tell how he felt about this concept.

x x x

Jack had- without asking permission- acquired some new clothes, from the TARDIS wardrobe. A dark grey wool coat, of a very similar style to the WWII one, but without the military design, and better cut to fit her female form. Boots that didn't nearly trip her when she walked (only one size smaller than he had worn before). Very form-fitting low-cut pants (no need for braces, with these... nor any imagination as to the shape of her backside, either).

She had stuck with the old shirt, in spite of (or partly because of) the fact that it was quite tight around her chest... and it might prove helpful in concealing the fact that she was pregnant, once it became noticeable. She had also cut her hair, almost but not quite back to the style it had been before, leaving slightly longer bangs at the front to frame her more feminine features.

Martha, who had already said her goodbyes and left to check on her family, had found out about Jack's condition, and spent several hours alternately laughing about it, expressing horror and disgust at the idea of sex with the Master, and trying to show sympathy for the unfortunate immortal, which was ruined by the 'rather you than me' air she subconsciously projected about it.

"Well, here we are. Earth, June twelfth, two-thousand-eight." the Doctor announced.

"It's a Thursday." the Master added, as if this was an especially good thing. Well, it did mean that tomorrow was Friday 13th, and Jack could just picture him watching and laughing while people went about the tradition of being paranoid of bad luck, all day.

The Doctor glared at him, clearly telling him to shut up, before asking for the dozenth time, "You're sure you don't want to stay on the TARDIS?"

"Doctor, I may not be in the safest line of work, here on Earth, but you attract far more trouble than I do." Jack said brightly, "I figure I'm safer at Torchwood than planet-hopping from one disaster to another with the pair of you."

"Just try not to get killed, alright?" the Doctor warned.

"If you really feel the need to die, I'll be happy to oblige your suicidal tendencies in nine months' time." the Master added.

Jack took two steps towards the Master, so she was now right in front of him, looking into his eyes with an air of detached amusement. She saw a flash of fear there, "Since I'm going to be a woman for a while, now, I guess I ought to learn this. Doctor, you've told me the horror stories about Jackie Tyler, tell me... is this right?" And with those words, she slapped the Master, very hard, across the face.

The Master's head snapped to one side, and his hand instinctively flew up to cover his now slightly reddened cheek. Half a second later, he turned a venomous glare on her for it.

"Very effective." the Doctor said with a laugh.

x x x


	2. Hey Kids, Did You Miss Me?

x x x

**Chapter 2: Hey Kids, Did You Miss Me?**

x x x

It was a blowfish. A sentient humanoid blowfish... with a gun, and a stolen sports car.

According to a file Ianto had once read in the Torchwood archives, this species of alien was mildly telepathic. This could cause them all sorts of problems, if it could predict their plans that way, but that was a risk they had to take in order to stop this creature before it committed another crime.

Owen had shot out a tyre, much to Gwen's displeasure at his methods, and now they had found the vehicle abandoned in a residential street. Gwen and Owen, guns drawn and ready, were the first two out of the SUV, and over to the abandoned sports car.

"Where is it? Where's it gone?" Gwen shouted, as she looked around for the alien.

Two gunshots sounded from the nearest house, and Owen shouted for them to move in. All four charged straight into the building, without hesitation. Owen called out the commands, and the rest of them obeyed. They all had the potential to be leaders, but it had been agreed before going on the mission that one of them got dibs on the role so they didn't risk lives by bickering. Tonight, Owen had won the draw.

There were three people already in the house, plus the blowfish. Gwen quickly moved to defend the uninjured woman, Owen to check on the wounded man, while Tosh and Ianto aimed their weapons at the blowfish. It held the younger woman as a hostage, its own gun pointed at her head. Typical hostage situation... reckless, but effective.

Tosh checked the scanner, and announced calmly, "Massive levels of adrenalin mixed with approximately three grams of cocaine." before adding in a slightly stunned tone, "This fish is wired."

"So this is Team Torchwood. The teacher's pets, but teacher's gone, hasn't he? Leaving the kiddy-kids all alone." the blowfish taunted them smugly.

Ianto idly wondered if there was some sort of universal rule written somewhere that the clearly definable bad-guys had to monologue in gloat-mode. Especially when the gloating was based on fact, he considered more than a little resentfully.

"And look at you, trying so hard to be all grown up." it continued, glancing at Owen, "The Doctor, with his hands full of blood." then to Gwen, "The Carer with her oh-so-beating heart." and Tosh, "The Technician, with her cold devices." and then he turned his focus on Ianto.

Torchwood One training included telepathic resistance, and he was aware of it trying to read him. He pulled up all his- admittedly poor-quality when facing aliens- mental shields. The mask he had worn for years, and faced the telepath with that armour, as he tried to calculate a way to lure the creature away from its hostage.

"Which leaves me, with the Office Boy, promoted beyond his measure." and it looked like it worked, too. "All of you, lost without your master. All of you, pretending to be so brave. All of you, so scared." it cooed mockingly.

Alright, so that was true, but bravery is resolution in the face of fear, it's so very difficult to fake. The girl yelped and tried to squirm away as the alien kissed her cheek, sniffing her hair. Ianto's grip on his gun tightened and he began trying to calculate his aim to shoot in spite of the hostage situation.

"So, what about it, minion?" the blowfish asked him, "Can you do it? How good are you? How sharp is your aim? What if you kill her?" that wasn't something he wanted to think about, and he was sure that it could sense that, "What if I kill her first? Can you shoot, before I do?" Ianto hesitated another second, as the alien moved behind the girl so it was now leaning over her other shoulder, more concealed and harder to hit. "Can you?" And back to the girl's left now, where the shot was clearer. Aim for its left eye, less risk to the girl. "Dare you?" but still, he was hesitating, "Would you?" deep breath, now or never... "Won't you?"

_Bang!_

The blowfish fell to the ground, with a bullet-hole right between the eyes.

Confused, Ianto looked at his gun. He had not yet pulled the trigger, and it had not fired. Neither had any of the others, Owen too busy saving the wounded man, Gwen protecting the woman, and Tosh had frozen up too.

He looked behind him. In the doorway stood a woman, her gun still held up, aimed at where the blowfish had been, having fired the shot over Ianto's shoulder. Could have hit Ianto as easily as she could have hit the girl, if her aim had been off. But it was perfect.

She looked very familiar. The gun looked familiar, too... the same model as Jack's. Her taste in clothes matched Jack's as well. And she was smiling at Ianto in very much the same way as Jack would, as she lowered the weapon. In fact, Ianto found himself considering that he would not be at all surprised if this was Jack-run-afoul-of-some-alien-tech, or a Jack from a parallel reality where male and female were reversed (he'd seen something like that in an episode of Red Dwarf, once).

"Who the hell are you?" Owen demanded loudly, still holding pressure on the wounded man's injuries. Gwen had gone for the phone, now, and he could hear her asking for an ambulance.

The woman laughed, shaking her head slightly, "Tosh, thumb-print reader?" she asked simply.

Tosh stared at the woman, confused. Clearly not recognising her, and quite probably wondering how the woman knew her name... but she did as asked, holding out her all-purpose scanner towards the woman, who pressed her right thumb to the touchscreen. Tosh took the device back, examining the data there, before whispering, "Impossible."

"That's me, six impossible things before breakfast." she said with a shrug. Ianto glanced at the scanner, and was unsurprised to see the employee profile document for Jack Harkness, had appeared on the screen.

"Who is she?" Owen demanded.

"It's Jack." Ianto said with a grin.

Owen stared for a few seconds, before remembering his emergency patient, and returning his full concentration to observing the man's vital signs with a mutter of, "Bloody figures."

"We need to get this out of here before the ambulance arrives." Gwen informed them, giving Jack a brief glance, "Looks like him." she said with a nod, adding sarcastically under her breath, "Wonder why..." and though Ianto failed to catch the end of that muttering, he could guess at its intent.

Ianto shook his head, "Welcome back, sir." he said, before going to deal with the blowfish.

x x x

The dead blowfish was now in the back of the SUV, and Jack was watching as Gwen strode purposefully next to the paramedics, "We had a hostage situation, the culprit is in our custody now. One injury, two gunshot wounds, and the two women should probably be checked for stress-related trauma, once he's stable."

"So what happened?" Ianto asked Jack, standing slightly behind and to her left as they watch Gwen do her people-person bit to get the regular authorities on their good side. Ianto had always been impressed with Gwen's people skills, especially the fact that they hadn't lessened since she got involved with Torchwood.

"Nothing serious, alien tech-" Jack began.

"No. I mean why did you leave?"

Jack sighed, "Later." she said firmly, climbing into the front passenger seat of the SUV and waiting for the others.

Ianto was persistent, "Alright, about you being female, then?"

"Alien tech." Jack repeated, grinning, "Completely reversible."

"Why not reverse it, then?" Ianto insisted.

"Later." she repeated, clearly meaning it in the same context as the previous use of the word. She would explain later.

Tosh hopped into the back of the SUV, "Did I hear the words alien tech?" she asked hopefully.

"Looks like a laser gun, sounds liker a laser gun. Feels like drowning in acid. Can turn a man into a woman, and reverse the process."

"Planet of origin?" Tosh asked hopefully, "Style, design? Schematics?"

"Varisi Two. Shiny silver, kind of like a Star Trek phaser. If you want the schematics, I'll see what I can do next time he shows up."

"He?" Ianto asked.

"They." Jack corrected herself.

"They?" Ianto repeated, with a raised eyebrow at his boss.

"The Doctor." ... and who else? Ianto wondered silently.

"Who, me?" Owen asked, hopping into the driver's seat, as Gwen got into the back with Tosh. Ianto rolled his eyes and joined the girls in the back of the vehicle.

"Not you, Owen." Jack said dismissively.

As they pulled away from the scene of the crime, Owen asked, "So are those real, or silicon?"

x x x

"No medical scans, Owen." Jack said for the dozenth time, as she watched the others working on the aftermath of the alien's crime-spree. Very efficiently, too. She was very proud of them.

"But-" Owen protested, clearly eager to find out just how thorough this change was. She could tell it was purely academic, though. Owen Harper had never expressed any interest in Jack, in fact quite the opposite. He had shown signs in the past of being at least bi-curious but was outright repulsed by the thought of Jack in that context.

She glanced at him, with a bemused smile, "According to my sources, in every physical sense I'm now a woman. Only evidence to the contrary would be from DNA tests. There's your information, now no scans."

Owen scowled, "Something to hide?" he asked. His tone implied that he was joking, but the question still made her uncomfortable. How was she supposed to explain that one to them? The fact she was now female seemed to be accepted easily when the words 'alien tech' had been offered as the explanation... but 'I fucked an alien' was a phrase that was not likely to be so warmly received.

"Pretend I'm not here again." she grumbled in his general direction.

Owen's eyes narrowed at her, and she would swear his previous joke had just been categorised in his brain as a real possibility, now. "Easy." he sniped back, before striding purposefully over to Gwen and Tosh, and joining in with his part of the cleanup process. Something about the autopsy and cataloguing.

Jack tuned the details out, instead observing the efficiency of their behaviour, with some degree of pride. They had done well, adapted and developed a good system. Gwen seemed to be in charge, although from what Jack had seen of the mission, Owen had taken the lead in the field. It almost felt like she wasn't needed anymore... especially considering Owen's last remark to her.

"Got pretty organized without me." she pointed out, finally.

"Yeah, well we had to." Gwen said angrily, not looking up from her workstation. Resentful and bitter... his disappearance had actually hurt her? Not surprising, really, but he'd not had much of a choice... run after the Doctor, or risk not finding the flighty Time Lord for another century or two? No choice at all, in Jack's mind.

"I'm sorry." she said, honestly.

But Gwen was not in a forgiving mood, and she turned on Jack in an instant, and all but shrieked in her face, "You left us, Jack!"

"I know." she said, frowning at Gwen now, before repeating, "I'm sorry."

"We knew nothing, Jack!" Gwen cried. Not the literal kind with tears, but the tone in her voice implied it was definitely going in that direction.

"Where were you?" Tosh asked, calmly. She was hurt as well, but held back any anger she may have felt in favour of methodically eliciting a rational explanation.

Jack shrugged slightly, unsure how much to tell them, and settling for the least possible, "I found my Doctor."

"Did he fix you?" Owen asked. The immortality... he'd explained it to Owen before, the fact that he was not the right kind of doctor to help him deal with it.

She shook her head slightly, "What's to fix?" she laughed nervously, "You don't mess with this level of perfection."

"Are you going back to him?" Ianto asked, very quietly.

Jack hesitated on that one, seriously considering how to word her answer best. Obviously, she would have to see the Doctor again- and the Master, as well, most likely- but she certainly had no plans to run off and leave Torchwood for any length of time, again. "I came back for you. All of you." it certainly was the truth.

She could see the emotions across all their faces. Faint but uncertain hope from Ianto, scepticism from Gwen, honest acceptance from Tosh... but open suspicion from Owen.

Then the moment shattered, as a computer beeped loudly, and Tosh identified its meaning, "Rift activity."

And back to work, again.

x x x

The crime scene seemed pretty ordinary. Someone fell off the roof. Jumped, or was pushed. Simple, mundane... very human.

Tosh was scanning the body, anyway, as Jack stood a few feet back, arms folded, watching, "Fragments of rift energy around the neck, arm and shoulders." Tosh informed the team, looking up at them all.

Jack frowned, assimilating the information and coming to the obvious conclusion. Seize the arm, hand around the neck... aggressive enough to be an assault. So the attacker came out of the rift, didn't make it any less human in mentality. "He was grabbed... and pushed." she said bluntly.

"Explains the residual energy cluster." Tosh agreed. She'd probably figured it out too... not like these four weren't just as capable as Jack was at coming to the obvious conclusion here.

"So, there's a potential killer on the loose... bi-pedal, maybe humanoid." Owen asked.

"Maybe human." Jack muttered darkly.

Gwen scowled at her for that, but then asked, "Any other alien tech involved, Tosh?"

Tosh shook her head, "No readings to suggest that."

"Okay, let's get back and see what we can piece together." Jack said, with the tone of command she was used to employing around them.

"Taking charge again are you?" Gwen sniped coldly.

"I was hoping for a little power struggle." Jack said in far too innocent a tone, "Resolved by some naked wrestling."

Owen looked from Gwen to Jack and back again, "You selling tickets for that?" he asked.

Gwen shot him a disgusted look, and turned to cross the police line, leaving the crime scene. Her friend in the police held the tape up for her, politely, "Thank you, Andy." she said, smiling at him in spite of her irritation at the rest of Torchwood right now, "You can let SOCO in now, they can eliminate us from whatever they want."

"This another one of your spooky-do's, is it?" Andy asked. Jack stood back, not even looking at the two as they spoke, pretending she was still looking at the crime scene itself.

"Not yet, but... uh... I'll let you know." Gwen told him, distractedly, before turning and walking back towards the SUV.

Andy scowled at her retreating back, grumbling under his breath, "'Thanks, Andy. You've been very helpful.' 'Don't mention it, Gwen.'"

Jack managed to startle him by appearing behind him, at this point, and quietly informed him, "Not her fault... she's in a bad mood, because her boss is being an arrogant and infuriating prick today."

Andy looked at her, surprised, "Do I know you?"

Jack just shrugged, "For the record, she did say 'thank you'." she smiled brightly, "And you have been very helpful." and she turned and followed Gwen and the rest of the team. She could literally feel the poor guy staring at her as she walked away.

Just as she caught up with the others at the SUV, something very bad happened. The communications signal on her Vortex manipulator sounded an alert for an incoming message.

"Whoa, that never beeps." Ianto said, staring at it, as Jack checked the details on the device.

The signal had been sent less than twenty minutes ago, from somewhere not very far from here... she could trace it easily enough, and pressed the buttons to tell the manipulator to do just that. She glanced up at Ianto, distractedly agreeing, "That's what I was thinking." before pressing the button to play the message.

The hologram appeared, standing in front of her, flickering slightly. She recognised the face, immediately, "I can't believe I got the answer machine! What can you be doing that's more important than me?" he demanded, petulantly, "Anyway, you've probably traced the energy shift, found the body. All me, sorry about the mess. Bill me for the clean-up." he sounded terribly bored about the whole concept, as if the murder had been a very trivial thing. She'd forgotten just how cold he could get, and was beginning to draw comparisons she didn't much like, between him and the Master, "Now-" he clapped his hands, and rubbed them together quite gleefully, "Drinks! Retrolock the transmission coordinates, that's where I am. And hurry up, work to do!" a flash of a grin, and then he put on a very poor impersonation of a female voice, "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!" with a glance to the side, just like the character in the movie he was mimicking, the hologram disappeared, leaving all five of them staring at the spot where it had been.

"Is there some sort of cosmic message about Star Wars that someone's trying to get to me?" Jack muttered, scowling, "First the Varisian, that planet we found him on, and now this one thinks that's funny?" she shook her head irritably, and turned her attention to the rest of the Torchwood team, "Stay here." she ordered sternly, "Don't come after me."

She quickly jumped into the driver's seat of the SUV, as Gwen asked, "Who was that?"

"Trouble." she answered, "Stay here."

Without waiting for their reply, she started the engine, and roared off in the direction of the tracking signal that would lead her to him.

x x x


	3. I Thought You'd Never Ask

x x x

**Chapter 3: I Thought You'd Never Ask**

x x x

Jack looked up at the sign on the door of the building she had tracked him to. Bar Reunion. Yeah, cute.

She pushed the doors open with all the deliberate flair of which said doors were capable. Kind of reminiscent of walking into a saloon in the old west. As the doors swung closed behind her, she liked to imagine a piano suddenly stopping discordantly, as a part of the effect... but you can't have everything.

He turned to face her, as he stood up from the bar, and raised an eyebrow in surprise, before eyeing her up carefully. Obviously not exactly what he had expected... but like the rest of her team, he took it in stride. They had jumped on the words 'alien tech' and been happy with it. He knew from experience what she looked like as a woman.

He didn't look that different from the last time they had seen each other. A bit older, but not that much. New outfit, kind of... eclectic. Face looked the same- no new scars that she could see- although his hair had turned a few shades darker.

The stand-off was traditional, perfect for her previously imagined setting. She held her hands out to the side, the gesture effectively asked, what do you think? How do I look?

She saw his eyes glitter and his lip curl slightly at one corner, in answer. Yes, he liked what he saw.

She tilted her head back slightly. So I'm here, now what do you want?

She saw him unclip the fastenings on his gun-holsters. Playing the game, but threatening her at the same time. I'm in control here, this is _my _ game.

Yeah, we'll see about that.

He started walking towards her, and she matched him step for step. When they met in the middle of the room, another familiar step of the dance took over. A pause. You first.

In her female form, she was the same height as him... usually he was shorter. The loss of this slight advantage made her pause a little longer than he liked, and he made the first move to kiss her. When she saw him move, she reacted, to meet in the middle, and a few seconds of pure passion followed, as she reminded herself what he tasted like, his scent, his hands running over her back and shoulders, grabbing at her hair and pulling sharply.

Usually he would push away first, this time she took that step back. He caught her at arm's length, and punched her across the face, hard. She barely held back the urge to laugh, as she immediately retaliated in kind.

His second punch was lower, aimed for her stomach. She nimbly sidestepped it, and as he passed her, she caught his arm and twisted his wrist around, opening up an opportunity to strike him again with a sharp kick to the back of one knee.

He stumbled down, onto that knee, and laughed as he looked up at her. Her answer was a mocking smile that bared her teeth at him, as she backed away a step, holding her hands out to the side in a gesture that clearly said come and get me.

He lunged at her, catching her around the waist, his head to her right side, and she leaned into this hold, catching him in a weak headlock as she spun on the spot, moving with his attack and using his own momentum against him so that he ended up sprawled on the floor when she let go.

She waited for him to attack again, and he hesitated, recognising her stance as far more defensive than was usual. A slightly confused tilt of his head to one side, and he deliberately aimed another punch at her stomach. Again, she side-stepped it, instead of taking the blow, and struck the small of his back with her elbow as he passed her.

He laughed again, and turned to strike out at her face. This time she didn't dodge, but moved back with the attack, taking the blow without much pain. And returning in kind, striking him across the face again, and following it with a very hard punch of her own to his abdomen. Who ever said violence wasn't a legitimate form of communication?

He recognised the not-so-subtle demand, nodding slightly, before an exchange of blows, during which he never once struck below her chest. That ended with him kicking out at her legs, and pushing her back, knocking her down onto the ground. When he moved in for another attack, she kicked up at him, her boot striking him on the chin and causing him to bite his lip. As soon as she picked herself up, he charged at her, throwing both of them through a glass panel.

He landed on his feet, instantly dropping to his knees, on top of her, hands around her throat. With a bit of a stretch, she pulled one leg out from under him, and caught the back of his leg with her foot, which gave her the leverage to pull him down on that side, and allowed her to roll over on top of him. She sat back just enough to free herself from his grip on her neck, and he bucked his hips, causing her to lose her balance and fall to one side and off of him.

This time, she went for her gun as she stood, only to find that he had done the same. Like counting the steps in a dance or the bullets in a gun, they always seemed to know the perfect moment to pull their weapons at the same time. They now each had the other in their sights. Perfect stalemate.

Smiling and laughing a little, she weaved her head from side to side, eyes wide to show the movement to be a joke, as if she imagined she could dodge a bullet at this range. Would take a miracle.

"You're putting on weight?" he asked... it would have been an idle insult, if not for what she had effectively told him without words, during their duel.

"You're losing your hair?" she retaliated sharply, but her smile belied the tone and he didn't take offence.

"What are you wearing?" What's your name? Your latest alias.

She shrugged slightly, resenting the fact that she had temporarily discarded the WWII coat in favour of something that actually fit, "Jack Harkness."

He raised an eyebrow. Not a girl's name? Then returned with, "John Hart." A second of silence, then with a sigh he announced, "Well, Jackie, I need a drink."

"Do _not _ call me that." she muttered, remembering what she knew about Rose Tyler's mother. They both lowered their guns, almost perfectly synchronised, and she joined him at the bar, eyeing the line of shot glasses there with mild amusement. This man had once managed to drink a Denvarian under the table, and that really was a great achievement for a human.

She took the bottle he offered her, and watched with great scepticism as he half-emptied a bottle of something unlabelled, clear, and judging by the smell of what he had offered her, of an equivalent strength to drain cleaner.

"So..." she said, with twisted amusement and a bit of a sneer, "How was rehab?"

He deigned to stop drinking long enough to glance her way, with a smile, "Rehabs. Plural." He ran a hand over his mouth to wipe away a trickle of blood, and a very brief flash of four fingers held up, that any normal person would mistake for a dismissive wave or a part of the previous action, told her the number of that plural.

She considered this for a moment, then said, "Hmm... drink, drugs, sex... and?"

"Murder." he answered calmly.

Oh yeah, they work that way back home, she reminded herself. This one would probably have way too much fun in jail in this century, anyway. She laughed, "You went to murder rehab?" She idly wondered when some genius would invent megalomania rehab, but mentally kicked herself when she realised the Doctor was already working on it.

"I know, ridiculous." he said, laughing as well, "The odd kill, who does it hurt?"

"You clean now?" she asked, quite certain of the answer.

"Yeah. Kicked everything. Living like a priest." he joked, raising his bottle of alcohol to show how ridiculous that idea was.

She laughed, shaking her head as she set her own bottle down, still untouched.

"Who is he?" he asked, glancing at her with a slight smile, "Must be special if you're so... defensive."

"Beats you for sadism, at any rate." she answered with a shrug, earning an offended look from him. Whether that expression was made jokingly at the insinuation of his own oh-so-obvious sadistic tendencies, or seriously at the suggestion that someone out there was worse than him, she couldn't tell. "And murder-count, too, I'll bet." Now he looked outright shocked.

"Human?" she shook her head, "Look it?" a nod, "What is he, Echali? Stonastran? Iridian?"

"You know I hate Iridians." she said dismissively. Not that she was racist. It was just a... cultural disagreement. He snorted at that... yeah, he would find it funny. "How's the Agency?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Didn't you hear?" he asked. Obviously not, tell me already, "It's... shut down."

"You're kidding." she said, stunned.

"No. There's only seven of us left now."

She blinked, stunned, "Wow." She was tempted to take a swig of that bottle he'd offered her, but between the fact that alcohol in general was probably a bad idea- still had no idea how Time Lord biology interacted with that stuff- and that her last memory of taking a drink he'd offered involved some quite humiliating intoxicants, she resisted that idea.

"It's good to see you." he noted, "It was never the same without you."

She leaned closer now, and he responded by doing the same. It would be so easy to kiss him again and fall back into that familiar and beautiful bloodlust they had shared before, when they had been partners... but she didn't do that. "You need to go." she said softly, "I don't want you on my territory." She didn't want him near her friends... he was volatile. It was one thing to play with her own life by being with him, but she couldn't drag anyone else into that danger.

"What?" he asked, indignantly. Then he leaned back away from her, affecting an air of being highly offended, as he set down the bottle he had nearly emptied, and stood up. A step back from her, and he was glaring at her angrily, "Time was, you couldn't get enough of me on your 'territory'."

He hadn't even finished that word- pure innuendo that it was- when he snatched up his gun from the bar, aiming it in her direction. Never could tell with this one, and she made the smart move of ducking, before she realised he was only firing at the door, shattering the glass there. She watched as he turned and shot out the glass in the back door as well.

"All right, everybody out!" he shouted.

The front door opened, and Gwen and Ianto cautiously entered the bar, their guns ready in case the armed and dangerous man tried anything else. "Everything all right, Jack?" Gwen asked, concerned.

Jack quickly held up her hands in the classic 'don't shoot' gesture, "It's okay!" she shouted, glancing to the other door to see Owen and Tosh there, "Okay, okay." No shooting, please no shooting.

"You've got a team." John said, as she finally acknowledged his alias, for the sake of an easy life. Well, relatively. "How sweet! Oh, pretty little friends!" he said, eyeing up Tosh, "No blonde, though. You need a blonde."

"God! He's worse than Jack." Owen grumbled. Not one of the four had lowered their weapons yet. Probably wise, since John's gun was still in his hand, even if he wasn't pointing it at anyone right now.

"Oh, do you have a team name?" John continued, oblivious to Owen's complaint, "I love team names, go on!"

Jack rolled her eyes, "Torchwood." she said simply.

"Oh." he sounded disappointed, "Not Excalibur? Blizzard? Bikini Cops? No? Torchwood. Oh, dear." And he was being deliberately annoying, now. Just great.

Rather irritably, she waved her hand in the direction of Gwen and Ianto, "Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones-" then to the other two Torchwood team members, "Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, meet..." she gave him a look; _you _ tell them your name.

Not that she needed to, as he quickly introduced himself anyway, "John Hart."

"We're old friends." she said, fully aware of the inappropriate irony of her words matching something the Doctor had once said about the Master.

John took offence at the insinuation of a platonic relationship, however, "Excuse me, we were more than just friends. We were partners."

"In what way?" Ianto asked. He was the only one who had yet to lower his gun now, and Jack could all but smell the jealousy from him.

"In every way." John said with emphasis, "And then some."

Jack rolled her eyes, "It was two weeks." she said coldly, with a meaningful glare. Shut up right now, don't tell them-

"Except that two weeks was trapped in a time loop, so we were together for five years." John declared with great amusement as Jack's face fell.

She rolled her eyes, He wasn't supposed to tell them that. Damnit.

"It was like having a wife." John added for emphasis.

"You were the wife." she snapped immediately.

John quite blatantly ran his eyes over her body... so blatantly that he deliberately moved his head up and down to emphasise the gesture, "Look in the mirror, love."

"You were still the wife, then." Jack said with determination.

John opened his mouth to retort, but then rolled his eyes and shook his head, instead. This argument could go on forever, and they both knew it, so he gave in, "Oh, but I was a good wife."

"I bet you were." Tosh said in an appreciative tone. This earned her stunned stares from the other three, "What? Don't pretend you haven't noticed, he's cute."

"They're just shy." John said to Tosh, with a grin.

Jack sighed. This conversation was not going anywhere productive on its own, "What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"I was wondering when we'd get to that." he said, all business-like, all of a sudden, as he pulled back the sleeve of his jacket and began pressing buttons on the controls of his own wrist strap.

"That's the same as yours." Tosh told Jack. Like she didn't know already.

"A little smaller." Jack said blithely.

John rolled his eyes, and shot her a bemused glance, "But lasts much longer." he said with false cheer, "Get two Time Agents in the same room together, it's always about the size of the wrist strap."

Jack leaned closer and hissed in John's ear, "I met an alien, could make my wrist strap take us a hundred trillion years away." her tone as seductive as humanly possible.

John spent several seconds with a slightly confused, amused and stunned expression on his face, his mouth opening and closing, trying to think of a retort, but he was saved from this impossible task by Owen, of all people. Clearly trying to tune out the innuendo that they were practically drowning in, Owen chose to speak up on the least likely part of that dialogue to be interpreted as obscene, "Ah, yes, sorry? What's a Time Agent?" he asked.

"What? She's never told you about her past?" John asked, surprised.

"No, he- I mean she- hasn't." Gwen said, shaking her head at the confusion of pronouns.

Jack and John exchanged a look. Without the slightest hint of body-language to show the others what they were implying, John managed to read her stare as it was intended. They don't need to know.

"Anyway." John said, pressing the last button on his wrist-band, and projecting a holo-image of a fairly normal-looking canister of something-or-other. Most unhelpful, it could have been anything. "I'm working with this woman- beautiful, clever, sexy, yadda yadda yadda- and we both get shot. And as she's dying, she begs me. She tells me about these radiation cluster bombs she'd been working on."

"I don't like the sound of that." Owen muttered. Yeah, 'radiation' and 'bomb' not good words, worse when put together.

"Three canisters, contents beyond toxic, swallowed up in a riftstorm." John continued.

"And ended up here." Tosh concluded, with flawless- if obvious on this occasion- logic.

"Bingo." John said, nodding to her, "That's the downside of your city being built on a rift in space and time. Now, left to their own devices, the radiation'll break down the canisters and then infect your people... and planet. They need to be neutralized."

Very altruistic of him, Jack thought, "What do you get out of this?" she asked, quite certain that he would never go to such trouble if there was no monetary gain to be had on his part.

"Dying woman's wish." John said with a very effective illusion of sincerity. But Jack could still tell that it was only an illusion, "Now, there's only one problem." he continued, "I don't know where they are. Hoping local knowledge might help." He looked around at the team, though he did manage not to meet Jack's eyes. She knew this was a sign that he was lying, as if she hadn't figured that out already. Both of them consistently failed to lie convincingly to each other, when their eyes met.

Tosh, always eager with a technological solution to anything you could ask, suggested, "When we get back to the Hub, I can run a citywide scan on radiation surges and cross-reference that with the rift activity during that time span."

"What are you, the brains and the beauty?" John asked, eyeing Tosh appreciatively, before turning his attention back to Jack as he said brightly, "You see, together it's an easy job."

Still not trusting him- but also not willing to risk the danger if he was telling the truth- Jack stepped up right in front of John, and said with determination, "We do this, you get out of here when it's finished. Right away."

He deliberately refused to acknowledge the threat, instead grinning and asking, "Does this mean I get to see your house?"

x x x

"So seriously." he asked, as the two ex-Time Agents walked through Cardiff, taking the scenic route to the Hub. It would give the team time to prepare for the unfriendly guest's visit. "Who is he?"

"I don't know his real name." she said with a shrug.

"Can't be an Agent, we're all human." he pointed out.

"The tradition came from somewhere." she noted blithely.

He'd never figure that one out. Time Lords were a _myth_, as far as the Agency ever knew... and it's not like Time Lords and the Agency were the only people ever to hide their real names, anyway. Operatives in the twenty-sixth century government special ops. Terra-nova soldiers in the forty-ninth century. Even MI6 was known to give out a pre-made theoretically inherited identity to certain elite agents. And those three were just examples with Earth origins.

"Why's he so special, then?" he asked.

"Endgame extinction." she answered with a frown. It was a common term used by many organisation in their own time, for any species- sentient or otherwise- that had less than a dozen members left in existence. It certainly wasn't her only reason... but probably the only one he would understand.

"Oh, playing hero, are we?"

"I can be altruistic when I want... unlike some people." she said sharply. He feigned a wounded expression, and she smiled, "Besides, it's not that bad. From what I've heard it should be easier than the all-human experience."

"Ha!" he shook his head, "You're a masochist, you know that, right?"

"Why else would I ever have seen anything in you?" she joked. It really was not the only reason, not by a long shot.

It was at this point that they reached the entrance to the Hub. The hidden one, rather than the tourist office one. "Here we are." she announced, standing in front of the step that would lead down to the Hub.

He looked up at the water tower with bemused scepticism, "You live in a sculpture? Could you be any more pretentious?" he asked, laughing.

She tried not to show her irritation, as she pointed down to the particular paving stone which was in reality the hidden elevator into the Hub, "Get on."

"We going for a ride?" he asked, grinning as he stepped onto the indicated stone, and she joined him on the rather limited space. "Your team not allowed in this way?"

"This is the entrance for tourists." she said bluntly.

"I remember the last time you said that." he teased.

She rolled her eyes, and seriously considered slapping him... but thought better of it, for now. Instead, she pressed the button on her wrist strap to activate the lift.

He was startled by the sudden movement, as the paving stone on which they stood began to move, "Woah, where the hell are we-?"

He glanced up at her, and she grinned back at him, "Going down." she said cheerfully.

As they descended further, into the underground lair of Torchwood, he stared around in poorly concealed awe, "It's roomy, I'll give you that." he admitted, trying to sound dismissive. "Your taste in interior design hasn't got any better, though." he added, finding the first thing he could to pick fault in, "What is this, sewer chic?"

She frowned at that description, but continued to refrain from hitting him... barely. When the elevator finally reached the ground level of the Hub interior, she stepped off, turning to stop him from following her. "Weapons." she ordered calmly. Ianto was waiting to one side, with a tray to put the weapons on, and Gwen to the other with that all-purpose scanner in her hand.

John only hesitated for a second, looking very much like he wanted to make some retort, but instead he removed both guns from their holsters, handing them over to Jack, who dropped them onto the tray. Next, he removed the very ornate sword from his belt, and handed that over as well. Ianto took the sword without a word, and John shrugged innocently, as if to claim that was all of them. Yeah, like hell. And the rest of the team seemed to feel the same way, as none of them had shown signs of backing off, either.

"And the rest." Jack said impatiently, holding her hand out for more.

"Oh, you know me." John said innocently, "I'm a two-weapon man."

Jack scoffed at this, her expression pure mockery of that last statement. Yeah, and I'm abstinent. Hand them over.

"One pistol strapped to each leg." Gwen said calmly, reading off the scanner, "Laser knife beneath left elbow." reluctantly, John started to hand over his remaining weaponry, as Gwen continued to speak, "Seventeen small explosive charges in the lining of his coat." He even produced a few less technological weapons that she hadn't mentioned, as well.

"Slipped my mind." John said in every form of false innocence.

Jack snorted, eyeing the last of the weapons he had handed over- a small holdout pistol- very gingerly, and wrinkling her nose at it as she recalled the most likely way for a Time Agent to hide their last emergency weapon, before dropping it onto the tray with the others, and muttering, "Heard that one before."

x x x

Jack was sitting alone in her office, now, watching the others through the window. Tosh was at the computer, Gwen and Owen were talking about something, and Ianto was lurking in a corner watching as well. He had a habit of that, standing back and watching... the quiet one in the office... it was how he'd got Lisa in without being caught, and he was brilliant at it. And he continued to lurk, unnoticed and unremarkable, as John sauntered into the room.

Gwen and Owen immediately shut up, so they must have been talking about him, which wasn't surprising in the least. Tosh glanced in John's direction, blushing slightly before going back to work. John looked up and waved to Jack. With a scowl, she turned away from the window and disappeared into her own room.

Tapping her commlink into her ear, she spoke, "Hey, you... I saw you skulking out there... he didn't seem to, though." This really was an impressive feat, as John could be very observant when he wanted to be.

"Me? Skulk? I prefer the word 'lurk'." Ianto answered innocently. She heard coffee mugs clinking in the background sound, "How'd you know I was wired?"

"Saw the earpiece. You wear it so often, I wonder sometimes about your ex." she said dismissively, kneeling down and rooting through a box of weapons and other technological stuff, hoarded for personal use. The silence over the commlink was so tense she could swear he was psychically projecting his offence at that statement, somehow. "What's he up to?"

"Chatting up Tosh." Ianto answered in an undertone. Soon she could hear voices over the commlink. Gwen thanking Ianto for the coffee, and then resuming her chat with Owen... then Tosh remarking on John's unusual taste in clothes.

"Keep an eye on him." she warned, taking out one of the older trinkets from her collection. An energy shield bracelet... it could stop any known variety of lasers and bullets. Useless against sonics or hand-to-hand combat, though. Jack had acquired it in a game of chance with an Osirian outlaw, during a mission for the Agency. Hadn't needed this toy since he became immortal, but now... better to play it safe. Especially with her ex-partner here, now.

She also took out a couple of other devices, glancing at both of them and idly contemplating their potential usefulness. Oh, both would probably become invaluable, but it seemed a bit too soon for her to consider carrying them around with her. She set them neatly on top of the rest of the box's contents.

After a couple of seconds, during which he must have been waiting until he moved out of hearing range of the others before speaking, Ianto answered her instruction, "Yes sir."

"You're gonna have to stop calling me that." she pointed out, closing the lid of her personal treasure-chest, and hearing the satisfying click as it locked. "I'm going to be staying like this for a while." She stood up quickly, and with one foot she shoved the box just out of sight, under her bed.

"Any particular reason for that, ma'am?" he asked, a teasing tone in his voice now.

"Oh, please don't call me that, either. How about Captain?" she suggested, as she put the bracelet on her right wrist. It connected with fine, barely visible filaments, to a ring that slipped over her middle finger, as well. The ring was the control for the shield. "Or gorgeous?" she added, admiring the glittering piece of jewellery that the powerful shield appeared to be, turning her hand to either side, and making sure that it didn't catch on her watch. "Or maybe, sexiest woman on the planet?"

"Whatever you say, Captain." Ianto answered with a weak laugh.

x x x

"Seven hours ago we logged a minor surge in rift energy, across three locations." Tosh informed them, indicating a screen with a visual representation of this fact.

"Six of us, three locations." John offered, brightly, "That's simple. Two people per canister."

"Excuse me, I give the orders." Jack snapped at him.

"Well then, give some, Jackie!" he retorted.

Owen snickered at this, as Jack rolled her eyes back. She told him not to call her that! And when she did open her eyes again, she fixed a glare on Owen that told him that it was _not _ funny, and he would suffer dire consequences if he ever used that name for her.

"John's right." Gwen said, before Jack had the chance to retaliate for the name-calling, "Sorry, um... d'you prefer John, or... what?"

John grinned up at her, "With eyes like yours, call me Vera, I won't complain."

Gwen's eyes glittered at that suggestion, and she smiled as she continued to give out the orders, "Tosh and Owen, take the north. Ianto and Jack go west. Me and Vera'll take the docks."

"Gwen..." Jack said, her tone warning rather than challenging.

But Gwen still interpreted it as a challenge, "Got a problem with this, Jack?"

A few tense seconds passed, during which everyone in the room seemed to be anticipating a cat-fight. She glanced at each person in the room, Tosh was defensive in a way that says she's staying well out of it. Owen looked like he was mentally making bets on how long it would take the cat-fight to degenerate into the previously mentioned naked wrestling. Ianto seemed almost bored, exasperated, as if this was all a big waste of time when they could be doing something better. And John... well the maniac was grinning at her as if whichever choice she made would be the wrong one.

After careful calculation, Jack backed down, "Not at all." she said guardedly.

Gwen nodded, and in spite of it not being visible on her face, Jack could see a smile in her eyes. And with that settled the meeting seemed to be over. Tension dissipated, John took the opportunity to reminded them, "Now, given the canisters are radioactive, don't open them, eh?"

Ianto rolled his eyes, in the universal gesture of 'well duh,' and shot Jack a look that asked, how do you expect me to keep an eye on him, now, hmm?

"Let's go, guys." Gwen announced brightly.

Jack blinked slowly, in answer to Ianto's silent question, deliberately enough to make it look like a nod. Go with Gwen's plan. John was too good at reading body-language... but Jack had not been facing him, when she did that, so he shouldn't have spotted it. Now, she turned to Gwen, "Gwen, I need a word." she said warningly.

The rest of the team took Gwen's orders, and left the conference room, but John, "Oh, can I watch this bit? She's gonna give you all the dos and don'ts. I love it." Gwen smiled at him, again.

Jack glared at him, and pointed to the door, "She'll be with you in a second." So get the hell out.

She watched as he stood up, taking his own sweet time about it, and sauntered out of the room like he thought he owned the place. Once he was outside the door, though she was sure he had gone not one step further, she turned sharply to Gwen, "What are you doing?"

Gwen didn't show any sign of backing down, as she answered, "If I can get him talking, flirt a bit, he may drop his guard. I can find out what he's really up to."

"Good idea."

"Thank you." Gwen said, smiling, but Jack continued.

"In theory." she glanced at the door, knowing full well that he was trying to listen in, "I know this man, he's dangerous. Leave him to me."

"I led the team while you were way, Jack." Gwen pointed out, "I can handle this. He knows you too well. He'll never tell you the truth." Which was true, and a very valid point.

Jack sighed, defeated in this argument, and conceding to Gwen's plan, "Three rules. One, don't believe anything he says. Two, always keep him in front of you. And three, under absolutely no circumstances let him kiss you."

Gwen scoffed indignantly at that last one, "As if I would!"

"Has she got to the no-kissing rule yet?" John's voice called, from outside the room, "Only invented that because she wants me all to herself."

Gwen gave Jack a very tired look, that clearly said this was going to be a long night, then turned and left the room, ordering John to stay in front of her as they left.

x x x

According to their scans, the canister they were looking for was in this building. An office building. Ianto tried to ignore the slightly claustrophobic air to the place. He'd worked in such buildings before, and quite completely loathed them. Offices like this were, quite honestly, his idea of hell.

Jack on the other hand... "Oh, yeah! Loving that office-y feel!" she said, wandering off to the left. Ianto tried to ignore her enthusiasm as he began his search of the nearest desks, "I always get excited in these places. To me, they're exotic. Office romances... photocopying your butt-" he glanced at her, sceptically, only to see her adjust a bra-strap slightly as she added, smiling flirtatiously at him, "-well, maybe not your butt... although while we're here, why don't we-"

No, he could not listen to this. He really couldn't. "The rift was active at these coordinates approximately two hundred feet above ground." he interrupted as pointedly as he could while remaining polite about it. He knew he sounded tense, but it didn't matter as long as she stopped talking about all the things she could imagine doing in an office. "That means this floor... or the roof."

She hesitated, and looked at him with what might have been genuine concern, before asking, "How are you, Ianto?"

"All the better for having you back, Captain." he answered, before turning and moving to check another desk, as far away from her as possible. He needed to keep his distance from her, when she was expressing such disturbing... interests.

"Alright, calling me that was a bad idea, you can stop it now." she said, a bit sharply. He glanced at her very briefly, noticing a frown on her face, as if she had been reminded of something unpleasant, "While I was away, I was thinking." she said, changing the subject, and just as suddenly losing the dark air that her own title had somehow conjured, "Maybe we could, you know, when this is all done... dinner? A movie?"

Ianto was surprised at just how uncertain she sounded. This was Captain Jack Harkness, completely unafraid to walk up to a person she barely knew and suggest they have sex... but dinner and a movie? That made her nervous? He turned to face her directly, and asked, "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Interested?" she asked, her self-confidence returning now.

He hesitated. The idea wasn't a bad one... Jack was very attractive, regardless of gender, and Ianto couldn't help but be drawn to her personality as well, "Well..." he said, nodding slightly, "As long as it's not in an office." he turned and walked away, to search yet another desk, adding darkly, "Some fetishes should be kept to yourself."

As he searched, she walked slowly towards him, pointing out almost sulkily, "Looks like we're gonna have to go through every drawer, bin and plant pot."

He nodded. It was quite probably true, "Right. Okay. I'll do this floor, don't want you getting overexcited." he saw her grin as he said that, and tried to ignore it, suppressing a shudder of disgust at the thought of any positive emotion existing in an office setting, "And you take the roof. You're good on roofs."

She nodded, and turned to leave. Just as she reached the door, though, his curiosity and worries got the better of him, and he called out, "Jack?" she stopped, turning to see what he wanted now, "Why are we helping him?"

"In the unlikely event that he's telling the truth, the whole city is in danger." she said bluntly, "And if he's lying, and we have to beat the hell out of him, I get first dibs." she added with a near feral grin.

Ianto smiled at that. Yes, the mental picture of John Hart getting beaten up, especially by a girl (even if that girl _was _ Jack), was appealing.

She turned to leave again, but hesitated, asking, "By the way ... was that a yes?"

Ianto blinked, realising he'd not actually said the word 'yes' to her offer of a date, "Yes! Yes." and the smile that flashed across her face before she left the room made his heart skip a beat.

Ianto leaned against the photo-copier, breathless, before he remembered what Jack had said about it and jumped away in horror.

x x x

Up on the roof, after a rather brief search, Jack found the canister. Picking it up carefully, she could almost immediately tell it was in no way radioactive. Having experience with deadly radiation, even when it was supposedly contained and safe, she knew enough to be certain. Well she hadn't exactly expected him to tell the truth, but she was still rather annoyed at being played, by him of all people.

"Rear of the year, fifty-ninety-four." she stood, and turned to see him standing not far away, watching her with that calculated malice that showed he was feeling victorious and over-confident. So something bad must have happened to Gwen. "Even better as a woman." he said, eyeing her appreciatively as he moved closer.

Before she could answer this, her phone rang.

Automatically, she took it out to see who was calling, but he got there first, snatching it from her hand as he said, "Cute-boy, ringing to warn you about me."

As if she needed warning that he'd try something. At least she knew Ianto was alive... she just hoped the rest of the team were, as well.

"Canister." he ordered, holding out his hand, as if he actually expected her to hand it over.

"If you've harmed them in any way..." she warned.

"You know, they're pretty, but stupid." he said, as if this was a pleasant conversation about past lovers, instead of the life-or-death situation they both knew damned well it was, "You used to have better taste."

"Doesn't look like that from here." she growled, glaring at him.

Sounding exasperated, now, he repeated his order, "Just give it here."

But she had no intention of cooperating with him, now, and instead she asked sceptically, "Radiation cluster bombs? Really?"

"Let's not get hung up on details." he said dismissively.

"Little embarrassing that you needed help to find them." she pointed out.

"A little humiliating you fell for the scam." he countered, "Your dolly birds did all my legwork."

"Is that what you wanted?" she asked. She didn't believe for a moment that he would seek her out just to find helpful minions. There had to be another reason.

"What I want is for you to come to your senses." he snapped, "Join me, Jack." and the fact he used her chosen name, instead of calling her Jackie again did show he was being serious... well, relatively, "Back in the old routine, we'd be emperors. How can you stay tied to one planet when there's thousands of worlds, sparkling with wonder?" his tone was seductive, but not nearly enough to sway her, "We should be up there, among the stars, claiming them for our own. Just like before."

"I've had better offers." she said coldly, "You say we could have our own stars? I could stand at the side of one who would rule the universe, if I chose it." She wasn't even sure if this was true, but in her current condition it was quite likely.

He looked hurt. Genuinely sincerely wounded, "But you and me, Jack..." he said, sounding sad now, "The glitter of the galaxy. The mischief we could make."

She laughed coldly, "You know, you're really not the master of temptation."

"But I wanted you back with me." he said, his voice weak, as if he felt lost, "All the stars out there we haven't seen. All the things we haven't done together. What the hell is there to keep you here?"

She shook her head, "Oh, move on already." she said, getting angry at his persistent _whining_, "Here I am, in a new life and you're still churning out the same old tunes. And sorry, but they don't play as well, now you're looking a little older. And what are they? Wrinkles around your eyes?" she mocked.

"Laugh lines." he snapped.

"Hell of a good joke." she said sarcastically.

"It's you I'm laughing at." he growled, holding out his hand again, "Canister."

She held up the object in question, glancing at it, then back to him. It would serve him right if she broke whatever he wanted from it. With that thought, and the slightest flick of her wrist- least effort necessary- she threw it over her shoulder and plummeting to the ground far below. "Whoops."

He started laughing, and so did she... but then she saw the warning sign. Anger, pure bloody rage, flashed in his eyes, killing her laughter instantly. That fraction of a second between laughter and anger was enough to turn the act from blind rage to premeditation... but not enough for her to avoid it when he stepped forward and shoved her sharply backwards, over the edge of the roof.

She heard him mimic her, "Whoops!" as she began to fall.

The air rush past her, faster and faster... that damned canister just had to pick the tallest office building in Cardiff. This was going to be quick, once she hit. Contrary to popular opinion, falling from a great height is a brilliantly fast and relatively painless way to go... assuming you don't have second thoughts on the way down.

She closed her eyes, waiting for the brief flash of pain that would soon come. Cracking your skull on the pavement, best angle for it... she leaned backwards a little, to account for that, arms spread out to her sides. In that last instant of thought, she was disappointed and mildly annoyed to find that she landed on her back, not her head... hurt a lot more, and took half a second longer to kill her.

x x x


	4. Like Being Hauled Over Broken Glass

x x x

**Chapter 4: Like Being Hauled Over Broken Glass**

x x x

The sun was just beginning to rise, a glimmer on the horizon shedding a soft glowing light over the deserted street, when Captain Jack Harkness came back to life again. She inhaled sharply, and immediately hissed at the pain, closing her eyes tightly against the light. Was it too much to ask to wake up in the dark? Apparently so.

The first thing she realised about her latest death was that her spine had been snapped at the small of her back, paralysing her below the waist and forcing her to use her arms to pull herself up into a sitting position, on top of the decorative stone bench she had landed on. The terrible cracking sounds from her back were sickening, and it took another few seconds after her resurrection for that to heal properly... now _that _ really hurt.

Groaning tiredly at the residual echoes of that pain, she slid down onto the seat of the bench itself, glancing up at the roof she had fallen from. He was long gone, that may have been a quick death but it was a damaging one... would have taken some time to come back. It _was _ sunrise, after all, and it hadn't even been close when she died.

And only now did it finally sink in. She had died... about the single most important thing that she was supposed to avoid for the next nine months.

Her hand moved automatically to her abdomen, as she leaned her head back against the ornamental bit of stone that had done the majority of the damage upon landing, and fought against the instinct to cry. It had _not _ been that long, two weeks (sixteen days, if you wanted to be specific) spent on the TARDIS since it had happened, before she had come back to Earth. Why the hell should she be crying for the loss of something most people wouldn't even know existed so soon?

But she had really liked the idea... a Time Lord child. _Her _ Time Lord child. Damn, but she wished she'd stayed dead herself, if this had destroyed that possibility.

As it was, she would just have to make John wish he was dead, as well... because if death was too good for her, he certainly deserved far worse.

With that resolution, she won the battle against the threatening tears. Just in time, too, as the sound of tires screeching around the corner drew her attention, and she looked up to see the SUV roaring down the street. Owen was driving, and the door opened as the vehicle skidded to a halt right next to her. She stood quickly and ran to jump aboard. Owen floored the accelerator before the door could close behind her, setting her coat flapping wildly as they drove off.

Ianto caught her arm and pulled her all the way into the SUV, while Gwen slid the door shut.

"What did he do?" she asked them, glancing at each of the four with concern. None of them looked like they'd been seriously injured, which at least was something good, even if it failed to make her feel any better.

"Shot me!" Owen announced from the driver's seat, "Nothing serious, but bloody painful." Tosh nodded in agreement, at this. So she had been there, probably left to tend to Owen's injury, rather than daring to leave Owen alone so she could chase John down.

"Poison... sort of." Gwen said. On closer inspection she did look quite pale, but knowing what Jack knew about John's taste in poisons, it was more likely from fear than any lingering side-effect, "And for the record, I didn't _let _ him kiss me." the emphasis showed that he had kissed her anyway. So he had used one of the contact-toxins, she idly wondered which one.

She glanced to Ianto, as the SUV took a sharp turn on its way back to the Hub. "Just threatened me... then told me the others were in danger. I went to save them." Jack smiled at that, but it didn't reach her eyes. There was nothing Ianto could have done to stop what had happened on the rooftop, anyway, he had definitely done the right thing.

"What about you?" Gwen asked her, now, "You look pretty shaken up."

Jack shook her head, "He killed me." that was all they needed to know.

The three in the back of the SUV exchanged surprised looks. It seemed that while none of them had trusted this man, the fact remained that he was an old... friend? Lover? Even she didn't know for sure anymore... of Jack's, and none of them, Jack included, had expected him to actually kill her.

She felt the SUV swerve slightly, as if Owen had been shocked enough by this to lose his concentration on the road. Really, he had no reason to be, Jack had died many times before, and even if they hadn't expected John to kill her, it still shouldn't illicit that sort of reaction, "How?" he asked.

"Roof." she said bluntly, and everyone flinched. She glanced at each of them in turn, seeing their sympathy, then averted her eyes, now staring at the floor. They couldn't possibly know what this really meant, and she would never tell them, either.

x x x

The SUV skidded dramatically to a halt outside the tourist office, and they all leaped out immediately. Jack took the lead as they entered the elevator down to the main floor of the Hub.

"Plan?" Ianto asked, checking his gun for ammunition. The other three were doing the same, though Jack seemed confident enough without the reassurance of her own weapons.

"Dramatic entrance. You four." Jack said, clearly in command again. Gwen nodded in agreement without a word.

"Why us?" Owen asked.

"I'm dead, aren't I?" she said, flashing a cold and humourless smile in his direction.

"Element of surprise, times two, then?" Tosh offered.

The elevator doors opened, and Jack gestured with both hands for the others to go ahead. Guns in hands, the four Torchwood team members hurried out into their own base.

Ianto could hear Jack's even footsteps following behind them, at a slower pace. When they rounded the corner at the entrance to the medical/autopsy room and saw John Hart, Gwen held up her hand to Jack, to indicate he was there. Then they all stepped forward, guns raised, and almost in perfect synch they all cocked their guns, making enough noise to draw the Time Agent's attention.

He turned his head slowly to look up at them, and after only a second he warily said, "Okay." drawing out the word, showing uncertainty and a bit of fear, slowly standing up and turning to face them directly. There was a small metal pyramid in his left hand, but other than that as yet unidentified item, he appeared to be unarmed. "Pretty and resilient." he sighed, shaking his head in some form of resignation, before muttering, "Is that even fair?"

"Maybe you didn't realize." Gwen said, with all the authority she had conjured in Jack's absence, "You can beat, shoot, threaten, and even poison us, and we keep coming back. Stronger every time."

Hart seemed to regain some of his flair, when she said this, and with far too casual a tone, he began to point out quite smugly, "Well, I think you ought to know, your boss is splayed out on the..."

But he trailed off, his expression dropping from confidence to total amazement, as Jack stepped into the room behind them. Even Ianto could tell she was angry, and he wasn't looking at her. There was just this... almost tangible air of rage radiating from her as she stepped down to stand between Gwen and Owen.

"...pavement." A few seconds of stunned silence, and in a breathless voice, which wavered slightly showing some fear as well as shock, Hart all-but-whispered, "Now that's impressive. Seriously, you can earn a fortune in the Vegas galaxies with an act like that." he laughed nervously, but Jack just glared, "Go on, how's it work?"

She slowly walked down the steps, past Gwen and Ianto, past Hart, though she turned as she passed him so that she never had her back to him. "I can't die." she informed him, backing up towards one of the machines in here which, while Ianto knew was medical in some way, only Owen had ever showed knowledge of what it was actually for. She pressed a couple of buttons, placing her palm on what looked like a scanner, and read the screen there.

"No. But really?" Hart asked, disbelieving.

Jack's eyes lowered as if whatever she had just read was Very Bad. Capital letters required. Then turned off the machine and looked up at Hart with pure malice. That was the very expression that the more sane alien invaders tended to run away from screaming, with their (most often metaphorical) tails between their legs.

"No. But really, you can't kill me." she said coldly, stepping away from the machine, towards Hart. "No matter how many times you try." Now she was right in front of him, looking him in the eyes, in that way where her gaze actually darted from one eye to the other, as if trying to read him. "I can't die." Ianto watched with a scowl as she reached out and put her hands on Hart's shoulders. Hart leaned closer to her, as if expecting her to want to kiss him. "Ever."

Very suddenly, she tightened her grip on his shoulders, to stop him backing away, and jerked her knee up, hard, into Hart's groin. Ianto winced... he may not like this man, but that's still painful to even watch.

Jack took one step back as Hart collapsed to the ground, groaning in pain, and dropping the unidentified pyramid-shaped object, which skittered to a stop on the ground in front of Ianto. Very cautiously, Ianto knelt down- his gun still trained on Hart, like the other three- and picked up the metal pyramid, glancing briefly at it as he stood up.

"You've never... ow!" Hart choking back a whimper of pain, looking up at her, completely shocked, "Never done that to me before."

"You've never done anything to deserve it before." she said, now seeming a great deal calmer. The anger was still there, but it seemed to have been appeased for now.

"This... because I killed you?" he asked, breathless from the pain.

She snorted, holding her right hand out in an offer to help him stand. "_I _ can't die." She repeated, that dark rage still in her eyes, as he reached out and caught her arm with his left hand, allowing her to pull him very shakily to his feet, "What makes you think that was the murder I was-" and again with the element of surprise, she punched him in the gut, hard, with her left fist, "-offended by?" Hart doubled over again, but this time Jack held him up as he fought to breathe again.

Ianto glanced at the other three team-members, briefly. The girls seemed a bit too smug, as if Hart really deserved the worst pain a man could experience. Owen was shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other, obviously not pleased with the form of punishment he had witnessed... but he was watching carefully, as if he was calculating something that Ianto clearly hadn't picked up on. Then he glanced at Ianto, sensing his gaze, and the cold gleam in his eyes said he agreed with the girls, Hart had that one coming.

Ianto was surprised, he had thought out of the four of them that it would be Owen who had the greatest problem with witnessing this kind of violence. Owen clearly knew something that Ianto did not.

Ianto hated not knowing things.

Looking back to the two Time Agents, Ianto saw Hart was now staring at Jack in mild shock, but he seemed to have just enough common decency not to say anything too flippant, given his current predicament. A couple of tense seconds passed, during which Hart painfully forced himself to stand up straight and face Jack with what must be the closest pass for apology that he was capable of showing in his eyes. What had he done?

Then Gwen asked a very different but equally relevant question, "What's in the canisters?"

"Yeah, start singing, choir boy." Owen said with a cold grin.

John shot Owen a very resentful glare for the joke, but then answered, "Yeah, all right." with a defeated sigh he began the explanation, "That woman I told you about? Had herself an Arcadian diamond, the rarest gem in the Damascene Cluster. Just when I'd got my hands on her, she only generates her own personal riftstorm. God, I hate technological geniuses."

"You said this was a dying woman's request." Tosh pointed out, angry disbelief in her tone, as if she had actually thought one word from Hart's mouth could ever be entirely truthful. Ianto, Owen and even Gwen expressed various levels of impatience with Tosh for being so oblivious to the fact that Hart had been trying to scam them from the start.

"Yeah, she was dying. I shot her." Hart answered bluntly, "Thought my luck had changed when I found it had ended up here. So, I'm thinking fifty-fifty? Even split, good deal, right?"

Jack's expression was one of deep disappointment, and some degree of pity, as she answered this, "I knew right from the start that you were lying about what you were after, but if you had just pulled your petty little scam and left in peace, without hurting anyone here... I would have let you take the whole damned thing." she said sadly.

She turned and walked away from Hart, only pausing to accept the pyramid thing that Ianto held out to her, before leaving the room.

x x x

Jack was staring at the pyramid-thing that John had found. It was glowing now, as it sat on her desk. Everyone else was present, waiting for her to decide what to do with it. The rest of her team were behind John, weapons still ready, just in case he tried something.

An Arcadian diamond wasn't just practically priceless, it was a remnant of a lost planet, destroyed in a war even the Agency had failed to retrace. Maybe she should keep it herself? Not for monetary gain, just for the historical connections.

After some deliberation on that subject, she finally came to a conclusion, "Open it."

John scowled, but seemed to know better than to play games with her right now. He stepped forward, piecing the artefact together carefully, "Right." he lowered the triangle he had put together around the pyramid, "This should give us the location of the diamond." and as he dropped it into place, a hologram of a very beautiful woman was projected from the device. "There she is." he said, smiling faintly at the hologram, with something that might be interpreted as affection.

"The woman you murdered." Gwen said coldly.

"Not a very exclusive club." Jack muttered darkly. John- quite wisely- took a step away from her, looking very uncomfortable at the moment.

Now the hologram spoke, her voice soft and melodious, "You've travelled several galaxies for this. Well done."

"Thank you, gorgeous." John said, but a glare from Jack made him back off yet another step.

"Except..." the hologram continued with a cruel smile, "There's no diamond."

"What?" John asked, scowling. Jack smiled darkly. Somehow, she really wasn't surprised.

"Only this." the hologram said, taking a step forward, towards the artefact. The pyramid snapped open, showing golden lights inside, while the base separated, with an ominous click.

"No, no, no." John complained, shaking his head as something levitated out of the pyramid, glowing as it turned around in the air, "No, no, no, no, no. There's got to be a diamond. It's all about the diamond!" but now the levitating object was transforming, shifting into a disk shape with lights that now glowed red, and bits of metal that looked quite claw-like around the edge. "What the hell is that-?"

The disk flew at John, striking the right side of his chest. Those claws sliced through his shirt and dug into his skin, securing it there. Jack watched with detached interest. It didn't look friendly, but it only had sensors for John, so she saw no reason to intervene as he tried in vain to remove the disk from his chest.

Now the hologram spoke again, smiling cruelly in John's direction, "It's an explosive device, which will latch on to the DNA of whoever killed me. It'll detonate in ten minutes." Jack noticed Ianto take out his stopwatch, and start the timer on it, as the hologram continued, "It can't be removed without exploding, so..." she laughed cruelly, "Don't bother trying. Goodbye, lover."

"No, wait!" John shouted, in vain at the hologram, genuinely afraid, now.

"See you in hell." she added, before fading out.

"She can't be serious!" Gwen said, clearly stunned, "Ten minutes?"

"Get it off me!" John yelled at the room in general.

"Actually, nine minutes... fifty, forty-nine, forty-eight..." Ianto said, in answer to Gwen's question, reading off the stopwatch, and completely ignoring John. He held up the timepiece in question for the team to see, smiling far too innocently, "Always at the ready."

"Okay. How big is this explosion likely to be, Jack?" Gwen asked, leaning over the desk as she spoke. Taking charge... and also ignoring John.

Jack had been watching the entire thing with sadistic amusement, but now that there was an explosive device that could take out half of Cardiff, she was no longer so calm about it. John deserved this woman's vengeance from beyond the grave- though Jack would personally have chosen something more long-term-torturous, rather than ten-minutes-then-you-die- but the rest of the city really didn't need to be caught in the blast wave.

"That technology... that size." she answered, looking at Gwen, and joining the rest of the team in the fine art of ignoring John Hart, "Big."

"So, we should really get him out of the city." Owen said, nodding. Utterly unconcerned for the life of the man who had shot him.

"Nine minutes, thirty-seven." Ianto supplied helpfully.

"You've got to help me!" John said, panicked as he turned to Jack, genuine fear in his eyes, "Please."

She stood up slowly, glaring at him, "Why?" He actually hoped that she would help him- why she should still eluded even her- and now she was leaving him hanging. She didn't really want him dead, that would be too kind to him, but she wanted to see his fear for a moment longer.

John, however, did not have the patience to be taunted, and this became all too clear as he pulled a face, showing resentment and anger, and struck Jack across the face.

By the time Jack had picked herself up from where the force of that blow had sent her falling over the chair and onto the floor, John had grabbed Gwen, using her as a human shield as he retreated out of the office.

Everyone had drawn their guns, and Jack quickly joined them, as they all followed him out into the main Hub area, weapons trained on him. Everyone shouting over each other, Owen yelling for John to let Gwen go, Gwen called for Jack to help her, but John found a very effective way to silence them.

He released his hold of Gwen, to reveal that she was now handcuffed to him.

"What've you done?" Gwen yelled, trying to pull away from the handcuffs.

"It's... uh... hypersteel." John said, with noticeable hesitation for thought, "Impermeable, deadlock sealed. No way to undo them. Unless you have this key." and he held up the key in question, before promptly swallowing it.

Jack seriously considered going and finding a pair of bolt-cutters, and testing his claims regarding the handcuffs' quality... but time really was of the essence here. Too bad injuring him would probably set the explosive off, or she might try cutting the key out of his stomach. Understanding what he was up to, Jack lowered her gun. He just wanted insurance, to live himself, to force them to try to help him... and shooting him now wouldn't do anyone any good.

Gwen turned on John now, her free hand on his neck, as if she was trying to strangle him... very ineffectively, "You are unbelievable!"

John rolled his eyes and said very quickly, "And yet, you still find me strangely attractive." before turning to Jack, "Now _you _ had better find a solution pronto or she'll be blown up with me!"

"Would shooting him stop the DNA trigger?" Owen asked, his gun still trained on John.

Jack put her hand on Owen's shoulder, to calm him down, "No."

"So! What are we gonna do now, team?" John asked, his infuriating self-confidence returning now that he had the insurance he wanted, "You certainly don't want this pretty little one getting all blown up, now do you?"

"Nine minutes, four seconds." Ianto noted.

"Tosh?" Gwen asked, glancing at the other woman as she spoke, "The rift predictor program, have you perfected yet?"

"Pretty much." Tosh answered, confused.

"What?" John asked, looking between the two, not knowing what this was about any more than Tosh seemed to.

"Anything in the next few minutes?" Gwen asked. But now Jack understood. In Gwen's mind, the plan had not changed, John would still be removed from the city and Gwen herself would become collateral damage.

"Gwen, no." she said sharply.

"What's she talking about?" John asked, looking from Gwen to Jack, now, trying to figure out what was going on.

"If we're in the rift when that disc explodes, the city will be safe." Gwen answered, and Jack shook her head, trying to deny this as an option. There had to be another way.

"How does that save us?" John asked, clearly thinking exactly the same thing as Jack, for far more selfish reasons.

"It doesn't." Gwen answered, slightly shakily.

A few seconds of tense silence followed, interrupted rather pointed by Ianto, "Eight thirty-two... thirty-one..." he sounded incredibly tense, and still had his gun trained on John.

"You're bluffing." John told Gwen, trying to make it sound like an order, as if he was commanding her to admit it even if it hadn't been true until now.

"Try me." Gwen replied coldly.

"The car park where he arrived." Tosh announced, eyes wide as if she really did not believe Gwen was about to do this, "The crack in the rift is still active up there."

"That's where we're going." Gwen announced, grabbing John's arm and dragging him towards the exit.

"Somebody better start doing something!" John shouted, desperately.

"Cut his hand off!" Ianto suggested, loudly, and far too eagerly.

"That would activate the bomb." Tosh pointed out hurriedly.

Jack was about to follow them, but Owen caught her arm to stop her, motioning for her to follow him, instead. The shouting continued, as Gwen was now yelling something at John most likely along the lines of telling him to hurry up and move. Jack hesitated, but Owen was insistent, and led her away from the others.

Reluctantly, she allowed him to do so, "What is it?" she hissed at him, as he led her down into the medical/autopsy room. Owen didn't look at her as he began grabbing things from around the room, but he did just spare the breath to answer her.

"I have an idea." he pulled out an empty vial from one of the cabinets, and handed it to Jack, before rooting through a cupboard to pull out a machine of some sort. He was moving with near manic speed, likely brought on by the adrenaline of a time-limit being involved. Usually, Owen was far more the calm and methodical type, about his work.

"What's this idea, then?" Jack asked, holding the empty vial she had been handed, and eyeing it sceptically.

"Thing locks onto DNA." Owen explained. At least his voice remained calm, even though he was now diving for the refrigerator with far more energy and haste than felt entirely necessary, "Mess up his DNA, mess up its hold on him." Owen pulled out a tray, which contained vials of blood. Very quickly sorting through these, he handed one to Jack, "Here, mix these up." he commanded, already searching through the vials for another one.

Jack opened the vial of blood and poured it into the large empty vial, frowning as she did so. Just because she could survive bleeding to death, did not mean she liked the sight or smell of the stuff. Owen handed her a second one, and she added that to the first. She didn't bother to question him... if she'd learned anything from the years working here with Owen, it was that the young doctor really did know exactly what he was doing, far more often than not.

Which was more than could be said for another Doctor she knew, who would act on instinct significantly more often than on logic and fact.

Five different samples of blood now put together into a single vial, Owen snatched the mixture from Jack's hands, and put it into the machine, setting it to spin... to mix the blood together properly.

"Intracardiac injection. Fastest way to get it into his system." Owen said, distractedly watching the machine spin. Only a few seconds later, he stopped it, taking out the vial of mixed blood.

Jack picked up a syringe with a suitably large needle for the type of injection Owen had specified, and handed it to him, "This better work."

Owen smiled grimly, taking the syringe and quickly drawing up the blood, "Trust me, I'm an improviser."

She knew that should make her laugh, but the situation was too dire and her mood too dark, right now. Once the blood was drawn up, she took the syringe, and ran out of the autopsy room, Owen right on her heels.

x x x

Jack Harkness had never been known for driving 'safely'. Great speed and a lot of tyre-screeching was more Jack's style. But damned if she wasn't good at it in spite of this apparent recklessness. The red convertible sports-car was not her first choice, but rather the closest vehicle under Torchwood jurisdiction that she had seen when she had run out of the Hub. It was the one that the blowfish had stolen.

They reached the car park building in under three minutes, and Owen spent the entire journey up to the roof swearing loudly, and clinging onto the dashboard for fear of being thrown out of the vehicle by the speed and sharp turns. They roared up onto the roof, and Jack hit the breaks mere feet from the SUV, pulling on the handbrake and jumping out of the car- not bothering with the door- before it actually came to a complete stop.

Owen followed half a second later, once the car actually _had _ stopped moving.

"Thirty seconds." she heard Ianto's voice announce as she charged towards John and Gwen.

"Er, what's she doing?" John asked, looking more than a little bit nervous... but almost as soon as the words had left his mouth she was on him, knocking Gwen to the ground at the same time as him. Jack held him down with one hand, and without any hesitation she stabbed the syringe into his chest.

He groaned in pain, trying to fight her off, "Get off me!" but she managed to inject all of the blood before he pulled her hand away.

She dropped the now useless syringe and stood up quickly. The disk was still armed, and still attached to John's chest, with absolutely no evidence of any change, "Owen, it's not working!"

"Eighteen seconds!" Ianto informed them.

"What are you doing?" Gwen shouted up at him, kneeling next to John only because she couldn't stand while handcuffed to the man that was still laying on the ground.

"Trying to confuse the disc." Owen told her quickly.

"Why hasn't it worked, Owen?" Jack demanded- almost shrieked- as she backed away from John, beginning to panic, quite completely terrified at the imminent prospect of losing one of her team on top of everything else that had happened today.

"I don't know!" Owen shouted.

"Fifteen seconds!"

"Jack, do something!" Tosh yelled.

Gwen got to her feet, pulling John up by the front of his coat, "I've got to go, Jack." she said, the only one of them to remain calm.

Reluctantly, Jack conceded it as the only remaining option, and helped her pull John to his feet. The disk chose that moment to detach itself, falling to the ground as John stood up.

"Eight... seven..."

While Gwen held the slightly unsteady John upright, Jack knelt and picked up the disk, which she could easily tell was still armed.

"Six..."

The others were now all running away towards the cars, as Jack turned to the golden-red glow of the rift.

"Five... four..."

With all her strength, she threw the disk at the rift.

"Three..."

And saw it disappear there, before turning and running with the others.

"Two..." Ianto was already back by the SUV, with Tosh and Owen, as Jack grabbed Gwen and John, pulling them away from the imminent blast faster than they would have been able to move otherwise.

"One!"

_**BOOM!**_

The explosion sounded a bit like a nuclear bomb going off, up close... and Jack, having past experience of such an explosion at close range, knew exactly what that sounded like. A shockwave of golden light burned at Jack's eyes when she turned to see it from the cover they had only just reached in time.

A moment later, the sky darkened. Day had instantaneously turned into night. Jack quickly checked her watch- which told her that it was the previous night, around the time that they had detected the rift spike that John had arrived on- then glanced at where the rift energy had been. "What the hell?" she asked.

"Jack, what's going on? Why's it gone dark?" Gwen asked. For all the leadership skills and bravado she had developed in Jack's absence, now she was turning back to Jack again.

"The rift's reverted to the moment he came through." she said, slightly stunned at this, even though it was quite obvious to her what had happened, "Everything's jumped back to the beginning of the night."

Gwen glanced at John, sounding rather smug as she pointed out, "Like you were never here."

John pulled on a mask of false bravado, clearly very pleased with his own continued existence, "Rewind. Now _that _ could be a good thing, am I right?" he was looking at Jack as he said it, and she frowned at him for it. Yes, she understood his insinuation, but the odds against it were phenomenal.

Gwen glanced from one to the other, clearly completely oblivious to exactly what was implied there, before she turned to Owen and asked, "What was in the syringe?"

"Torchwood DNA." Owen answered.

Gwen frowned, confused, "What?"

"DNA samples from the five of us, fused and injected into his heart." Owen explained, as if such drastic measures really were an everyday occurrence. Well, they were Torchwood, so it wasn't that great a stretch really, "Temporarily corrupted his DNA coding, confused the disc."

John looked sceptical, "You mean, there's a bit of all of you inside of me?" he asked, stunned, "Sweet goddesses, that's all I need." he added in mock horror.

"Thank you, Owen." Gwen said, tiredly but sincerely.

"Your welcome." he answered, sounding just as tired, now that the adrenaline had worn off.

Jack turned on John, now, glaring hatefully, "Get the fuck off my planet." she ordered him.

"Your planet?" Ianto asked, sceptically, before John could retort.

Jack blinked, surprised at her own choice of words, but then shrugged, "Relative territories, between him and me? Yeah, this planet's mine."

Ianto nodded, seeming to accept this, but Gwen spoke now, pointing out a slight snag in the plan of getting rid of John, "Well, we've got to work out a way to get these off first." she held up her left arm, to show the handcuffs.

"Actually..." John said, far too cheerfully. He tilted his head back and reached into his own mouth, a slight choking noise- Jack found herself wishing he would really choke- and he pulled the key out of his mouth with a grin. "Old Artesian trick." he informed them, "Keep it in the lining of the throat. Has a lot of uses."

"You had that all along?" Gwen asked, angrily.

"You were my passport to survival." John said dismissively, as he unlocked the handcuffs, "No hard feelings." he glanced at Gwen with a smirk and added, "Well, not in that sense."

As soon as her wrist was free, Gwen took a step back and punched John across the face as hard as she could. Well he deserved it, and then some... Jack might have found it funny if she wasn't so genuinely mad at him, but she still gained some degree of cruel satisfaction from his pain.

As Gwen backed off, still glaring at John, Ianto could be heard to mutter to her, "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

Jack held out her hand to John, now, clearing her throat pointedly. When she had resurrected, her wrist strap had been absent... which meant that John had taken it. Only way he could have gotten into the Hub through the perception-filter lift, and she had made sure that he hadn't known about the tourist office.

After a few seconds, and with a miserable and resigned look on his face, John took the Vortex manipulator from inside his coat, and handed it over. Without a word, Jack put it back onto her arm, deliberately taking longer than really necessary to fasten the wrist strap, so that she didn't need to meet his eyes, no longer even wanting to look at him.

"If you need a new team member-" John started, stepping closer to her, so that their conversation was- relatively- more private. There was a hint of what had to be completely vain hope in his voice.

"No." Jack snapped.

"Really?" he asked, "I could-"

"No." she repeated.

"But-"

With a sharp and irritable sigh she turned her head to meet his eyes, glaring at him with all the anger she felt right now, "Is there a particular reason you don't understand that word?" she snapped. It was a low blow, an insinuated insult that she would never have considered applying to him before, but now she was just pissed off enough at him to say it anyway.

He stared at her, mouth opening and closing a couple of time as he tried to think of a response. Then he frowned, backing down from an obviously lost argument.

"Go now and you can harness the residual rift energy." she told him, her tone softening only slightly, as she indicated with the slight wave of a hand to the point where he had arrived and the disk had been destroyed.

"Look, I'm-" he started, but once more she interrupted him.

"Go." she ordered.

John bowed his head, and nodded, "Okay." he took a step back, eyes darting briefly up to meet hers, and Jack saw what looked like it might have been an apology there... but she couldn't be certain. Then he turned and walked away. When he reached the point where the rift had activated before, he turned back to face her and pressed a button on his own Vortex manipulator- if anyone deserved to have their time-travelling-space-hopper punctured, it was him and not Jack- causing the golden light to reappear behind him.

"Oh, by the way..." he said, now that he was physically out of range of any retaliation for his words, "I meant to tell you... I found Gray."

That hit her harder than anything else he had done all night. She couldn't even remember why that name was so very important, anymore- so long spent repressing the pain of the past- but she knew it was a deep emotional wound, and John Hart had just gone and ripped it wide open again.

She stared at him in open shock, as he smiled faintly and stepped back into the rift event, disappearing from this time and place. Part of her wanted to run after him, dive through that tear in the rift and catch him, force him to tell her everything... but the rift had already closed behind him, and her own Vortex manipulator was still broken.

She heard Gwen's voice as if from a great distance, as she continued to stare at the point where John had disappeared, "Who's Gray?"

She closed her eyes, mouthing the word 'no', and shaking her head slightly as she tried to remember the importance of that name, before answering the question, with a complete and utter lie, "It's nothing. Come on, let's get back to work."

x x x

It was late at night, when Jack walked into the Hub, alone. It felt almost creepy, so silent, deserted. She quickly crossed the main room, descending the steps into the medical/autopsy room. They only had the one room for both purposes, and gods help you if you got sick while there was a dead alien in for examination.

Glancing briefly around, seeing no signs of life here, and pretending not to notice the dead blowfish still on the autopsy table, she returned to the scanner she had used the previous night. Nervously, almost afraid of what a part of her mind had already reluctantly accepted- terrified of allowing such a weak and false hope to even exist- she placed her hand on the scanner, and read the screen.

But when she saw the image that appeared there, indicating a second life-sign in her abdomen, she smiled, feeling tears of joy and relief well up in her eyes for a moment, before quickly blinking them back, "Rewind... good thing." she whispered to herself. And it really wasn't the first time, was it? This might only have been one night, but the positive result somehow managed to feel at least as good as the last time Jack had played a part in reversing time itself.

"You know I really hate people touching my stuff." Owen's voice, from somewhere behind her, startled her. She turned around sharply, looking up to see him leaning over the railing behind her... with a perfect view of the screen she had just been reading. She was too surprised by his presence here to even comment on the obvious double-entendre in his words.

"Oh! Owen!" she said, tripping over her own voice a bit, as she hastily stood up and positioned herself between him and the screen, "I thought everyone had gone home." she added, defensively.

"Yeah, well." Owen shrugged, "Blowfish. Paperwork. Ianto'll have my head if I don't get it done by the next time he's going down to the archives."

Jack frowned, trying to figure out how to turn off the scanner behind her, without letting Owen see what she had been doing with it... that was assuming, of course, that he hadn't already seen it. The way her head turned to one side while she considered this, as if trying to look back over her shoulder at it, drew his attention, though.

"I saw it." he said quietly- a much softer tone than he usually ever employed- nodding to the scanner's screen, before starting to walk around towards the stairs. "Kinda wondered, since you were so adamant about no medical scans." he said with a frown.

When he reached it, Owen glanced at the scanner, more closely, "Only two weeks?" he asked, "Surprised you even noticed."

"Why'd you think I stayed female?" Jack asked sceptically, "It's because someone got very paranoid, and insisted on running scans before letting me turn back into a man."

"Serve you right." Owen grumbled, "Not surprised the first thing you'd do after getting turned into a girl is go out and get laid. Who was it, then? The Doctor?" he asked.

Jack shook her head, almost scoffing at the idea. The chances of anyone ever getting the Doctor into that sort of situation were pretty much non-existent, "No... but he definitely wasn't human. And the Doctor _was _ the one who insisted on the scans." she said with a faint smirk.

"Not human." Owen grumbled, "Oh that's just great."

Jack laughed, "Relax. I'm told that aside from the end being less painful, I shouldn't notice too much difference." after a moment's thought she added, "Well... mostly. Fifty-fifty chance."

"Of what?" Owen demanded.

"Well, they weren't clear on the details... this is just an educated guess based on what they did say." Jack muttered, folding her arms defensively.

"Ah yes, 'they'." Owen said, remembering the conversation in the SUV after the blowfish incident, "Who are 'they', again?"

"The Doctor... and the man whose responsible for this." she said, gesturing to the scanner.

"The alien." Owen corrected.

"Details." Jack grumbled, "Look, there's a chance that it could read on a scanner as two heartbeats, without being... oh god!" she cringed, her hands moving to cover her eyes as if that could protect her from the truly terrifying thought that had just crossed her mind, "I just thought the word 'twins'." she whispered, peering out between her fingers, and slowly beginning to lower her hands again, "That's scary."

Owen pulled a face, somewhere between disgusted and sympathetic... but then he made the mistake of trying to be funny, "Well, since there seems to be some sort of Star Wars thing going on that you mentioned yesterday... we could call them Luke and Leia."

She hit him, very lightly upside the head, and snapped, "Not funny." She really wouldn't be surprised if the Master would find that comparison bloody hilarious, though. And if Owen tried calling her Padme, she really would have to hurt him.

Owen laughed nervously, rubbing the side of his head in a joking imitation of pain. Then after a couple of seconds he turned serious again, picking up on the practical point of her previous statement, "Two hearts?" he asked sceptically.

"Yeah." she said, nodding with a frown, her arms folded defensively again. This was not a subject that she was comfortable discussing, and Owen would not have been her first choice if she had wanted to talk about it. "Fifty-fifty chance, seeing as it's half-human."

There were a few other potential side-effect of the child's Time Lord heritage, but they were even less likely, and she found some cruel amusement in the thought of Owen's reaction to finding these out without being told, so she didn't mention it.

"Wonder what else he's got two of." Owen muttered, using the joke as a way of shaking off his surprise and curiosity at the thought of an alien with two hearts.

Jack laughed, knowing full well the answer to the obvious obscene thought there, but deciding to be awkward, "Ah... lungs, kidneys, hands, feet, eyes-" Owen glared at her, and she stopped the list, laughing even more.

"As Torchwood Three's resident doctor, I'm gonna have to give you the list of dos and don'ts." Owen said briskly, "No alcohol, smoking, drugs- including Retcon- caffeine, suicidal tendencies, or otherwise getting yourself killed again." all of this was said in a perfectly businesslike tone, and absolute seriousness.

"You can't take away my caffeine!" Jack declared, feigning horror and shock at the very suggestion. If she really had to, she could live without it, but she absolutely loved her coffee, and decaf just was not the same... even if it was made by Ianto.

"You're gonna have to stay back on missions." Owen warned, seriously, ignoring the caffeine remark in favour of the much more important point of _not dying_. "You were lucky, yesterday. That sorta thing is not likely to happen, ever again."

Jack nodded, "I didn't expect him to push me." she said quietly.

"Did you provoke him?" Owen asked.

She nodded slowly, "Still didn't think he'd kill me." she muttered, a bit sulky at being told off by Owen of all people.

"Yeah." his voice softened, "Well... just try to be careful, okay?"

She nodded, "Okay."

x x x

It was now two days after John Hart had left, and Ianto was in a relatively good mood... mostly because the aforementioned psychopath had been banished from the Earth, at least for now. It was a quiet day, and everyone was busying themselves with the sort of work that the fate of the Earth _didn't _ depend on. Mostly paperwork, or pet-projects.

Ianto was just about to brighten up his morning that little bit more, by pestering Owen over the fact that he still hadn't finished with that blowfish autopsy- what had their resident medic been doing all last night, when he was supposed to be writing that report, anyway?- when he was interrupted by Jack calling him over the commlink.

"Hey, Ianto... can I see you in my office for a minute?" she asked in a too-sweet tone that told Ianto instantly that she didn't _just _ want to talk about work.

"Yes sir." he said, abandoning his quest to infuriate Owen, in favour of seeing what Jack wanted.

When he entered the office it was to a most unexpected sight... and either Jack was entirely shameless, she had planned the timing of this very well, or most likely both, because if anyone else had walked in right now...

She was perched on the edge of her desk, cross-legged, wearing nothing but the new coat she had acquired while she was away. Ianto strongly preferred the original coat, but he certainly wasn't complaining right now, as he stared at her in surprise. Admittedly, the coat was strategically placed so she wasn't showing off everything... but still, it left very little to the imagination.

"I thought you might want to get to know my new look." she suggested.

Ianto quickly locked the office door behind him, and stepped further into the room, "You're gorgeous." he said softly. And it was so true... she was practically perfect, really.

With the slightest shrug, the coat fell off her shoulders, and she hopped off the desk to stand right in front of him. He had been covertly admiring her, since she had returned to Earth... but now she was directly demanding his opinion. It felt strange to realise that she was now slightly shorter than him... but it didn't bother him at all, as he reached a hand out to lightly brush her hair back from her face.

She grinned, clearly pleased with this answer, and immediately closed the distance between them, kissing him eagerly. It was strange... her lips were softer, and her hands slightly finer as she ran her fingers through his hair... but the way she kissed, the way she touched him, it was most definitely still Jack.

She broke the kiss for a moment, to whisper in his ear, "I missed you." but then her hands moved down to his belt, and he caught her arms to stop her.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked, concerned. He definitely wanted it- it didn't make the slightest difference to him what gender Jack was, she was still so damned irresistible- but he wasn't sure quite what to make of her behaviour. It wasn't what he'd expected at all. "It's highly unusual to have sex before the first date, you know." he added as a sort of nervous joke.

"Not like we haven't done this before." she countered, kissing his neck lightly.

Ianto really didn't want to protest, right now... the way she was kissing him was so familiar and felt so good... but his conscience got the better of him, and he pointed out, "Yes, but it's different, now."

Jack froze, looking up at him with a wounded expression, and quickly stepped back away from him, "Pathetic double-standard!" she snapped, brushing his hands away from her arms almost defensively, turning her head in a pointed and distinctly feminine gesture of refusing to look at him, "When a man wants sex all the time, he's a stud... but if a woman wants the same thing she's a slut."

It took a second or two for Ianto to properly process this statement... but when it sank in precisely what she was thinking, he was horrified, "God no! No, Jack, that's not what I meant at all!"

She gave him a questioning look, still managing to project the recently-kicked-kitten air with great efficiency, and he quickly explained.

"What I mean is... I thought the gender change would be a shock to the system. I can't imagine what it must be like... even going to the bathroom, let alone sex! I- I wasn't sure you'd be ready for this so soon." Jack seemed thoroughly stunned by the depths to which Ianto had considered her predicament, staring at him with amazement, as he continued, "When you asked me out on a date... I thought it was a way of telling me you wanted to take things slowly, until you got used to it."

Jack started at him a moment longer, and the silence had just started to feel uncomfortable when she suddenly laughed with relief, "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, it's just..." she seemed to think about this for a second, then, "In my time, there is no double-standard, on any level, between sexes... it always bothers me when I witness it in this century, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."

"So you wouldn't hold a door open for a woman, or offer to help her with heavy luggage, or anything chivalrous like that?" Ianto asked, knowing full well that Jack _did _ do that sort of thing quite routinely.

"Yes, I would." she said with a nod, "But I'd do exactly the same thing for a man if I thought he'd appreciate it. Although I'll admit, in this century... that doesn't happen too often."

Ianto chuckled at this answer, and quickly moved in to kiss her once more.

She eagerly returned this kiss, and this time he didn't try to stop her when she started unbuttoning his shirt and kissing down his neck and shoulders, to his chest. After a minute or so, she leaned back to point out, "I promise you, Ianto, being female doesn't make the least bit of difference to my desire to fuck your brains out right now."

"I'm sorry, Jack." Ianto laughed, "I promise never to underestimate your sex drive ever again!"

x x x


	5. When You Fear For Your Life

x x x

**Chapter 5: When You Fear For Your Life You'd Be Surprised What You Can Do**

x x x

"Weevils." Gwen said, as she threw yet another file on top of the pile on the desk.

"Unidentified alien technology." Tosh put in, adding to the pile.

"Dead Weevils." Owen offered, with another file.

Since Jack had returned, five weeks ago, they had nothing but one minor annoyance after another. It seemed that every time either one brought up the subject of that date that had been suggested the night she had returned, another Weevil emerged from the sewers, or another harmless alien trinket fell from the sky and demanded to be investigated.

Between the incredible ease of every mission, making them all downright boring, and the vast amount of paperwork, everyone seemed like they could do with a night out, not just Ianto and Jack. An excuse to let off steam.

It had surprised Ianto, when he had found Jack sitting in her office, doing very little, while Gwen and Owen were running around topside, Weevil-hunting... on more than one occasion. Before he had disappeared, Jack had always been eager for a bit of chaos to thwart and danger to laugh in the face of. She had dismissed his confusion with mutterings of Owen and Gwen wanting to establish themselves in the pecking order, or something equally obscure... then _willingly _ helped out with the paperwork to make up for it.

"This is ridiculous." Ianto said, staring wide-eyed at the pile... on his desk. The pile that he was supposed to organise, categorise and file away in the archives.

"Yes, it is." Owen agreed, "It's incredibly boring! We all need to go out and get smashed off our faces!"

"Sounds like a great idea." Jack's voice called, from the doorway of her office.

Owen shot her a look. It was one of those looks that probably deserved a capital letter, and definitely was meant to be saying something, but once more, Owen knew something that Ianto did not. Nobody was supposed to know more than Ianto did, especially not Owen! It was getting very annoying.

"We need a day off." Jack continued, ignoring Owen as she walked over to the rest of them, "Unless the world's about to end- oh, and every time someone says that, but it's worth the risk at this point- we're all going to go out and do something fun."

"What, like a group?" Gwen asked.

"If you want." Jack shrugged, "I was thinking more along the lines of all of us doing something we each consider fun, individually."

"Like going to the movies." Ianto offered innocently.

"I could use some time to spend with Rhys." Gwen pointed out thoughtfully, "Nice romantic dinner."

"Great, so we're agreed then?" Jack asked.

Tosh smiled, "I've been meaning to read the latest research into transitional hyper-mathematical theory by-"

"Tosh, darlin', this is supposed to be a day _off_." Owen interrupted, disbelief evident in his voice.

"That's what I enjoy doing on my days off." Tosh protested defensively.

Owen shrugged, "Well I can still get smashed off my face, so I'm all for this idea." he agreed, nodding, before shooting Ianto a warning look, "So long as there's coffee when I get back in the morning."

"So long as you don't touch the coffee machine again." Ianto retorted, grinning.

"Great." Jack cheered, grinning and picking up her coat from where she had abandoned it, the last time she had entered the Hub, "Let's get out of here!"

x x x

That evening, Jack left the Hub, through the tourist office. Unlike the rest of the team, who had homes to go to, she actually _lived _ in the room behind her office. When she stepped outside, Ianto was waiting for her, leaning against his car in a forced too-casual way, looking just as neat as always in a suit that she could not have differentiated from his work clothes if she'd tried.

They had agreed on the time for their date, although she had protested at Ianto's insistence on picking her up for it. Archaic chivalry that seemed completely unnecessary when she was the elder and stronger of the two... just because of gender. But she had given in eventually, when Ianto had insisted that Jack was always the one taking charge, and he wanted a chance to take the lead.

Still, right now, she was dressed for the occasion, or so she hoped. Jack Harkness had never gone on an actual _date _ before. He had met people and gone off with them on the spur of the moment, sometimes to locations commonly associated with dates in this century, but never before had Jack attempted to adhere to the standard rules of twentieth and twenty-first century human courtship rituals.

She had quickly decided on the idea of wearing a skirt, just to see the look on Ianto's face... therefore she had to spend far longer than she was comfortable with shopping for clothes. Apparently, the skirt she thought would shock him the most didn't go with the shirts she already owned.

The shopping had ended up taking most of the afternoon- admittedly, most of that time was spent in a cute little underwear shop that she never would have believed had quite as many kinky and fun-looking toys hidden away upstairs- and she was eternally grateful that no one she knew had seen her. She had spent all of the first half hour in the women's clothing stores imagining that just to spite her fate would decree Martha shop at the same place at the same time.

Ianto looked her up and down, blatant shock on his face as he took in her appearance. "How do I look?" she asked, turning around on the spot to let him get a better look.

Aside from the new skirt, which was relatively but not obscenely short, and the new shirt that managed to be tasteful at the same time as low-cut, she also wore the coat she had acquired on the TARDIS, and a pair of leather boots that came up to her knees. She really liked the boots, and idly wondered what Ianto would think of them, if she was wearing nothing else, and holding a whip.

His first question, however, was not the one she had expected, "Is that makeup?"

With a slight shrug, and barely resisting the urge to laugh at his expression, she nodded, "Would you be surprised to know I've been wearing it since I came back to Earth?" she asked brightly.

Ianto's eyes widened slightly, showing that yes, he was surprised, "Subtle." he pointed out, with a perfectly straight face, "Which means you must've known what you were doing with it."

She opened her mouth to answer that, but decided against it. He didn't need to know about the reasons for that.

"You look good." he said, saving her from that line of thought, as he blatantly fought the urge to stare at what was visible of her legs. Every few seconds his eyes did flicker down, but he really was being very polite about it.

"So where are we going?" she asked, suddenly taking on the same defensive air that she had felt when suggesting the idea of a date in the first place. It wasn't that she made any specific gesture to indicate this, but she did feel uncomfortable with the entire concept and she knew it showed by the way he frowned at her change in demeanour.

"Oh, well..." Ianto said, becoming slightly unsure, himself, as he moved to open the passenger door of the car for her, "Ah, there's a restaurant not far from here. Italian food." his tone sounded like he was asking her if that was acceptable.

Jack nodded, "Sounds nice." she said, reluctantly accepting this gesture of chivalry as well, as she got into the car. The car was grey and practical, one of those ones that gets brilliant mileage, is good for the environment, etcetera, etcetera. Not one she would drive by choice, but still not bad. It suited Ianto rather well.

She watched him close the door and walk quickly round to the other side of the car. Only once he had settled in the driver's seat and started the car did either of them speak again, "You hate this, don't you?" he was smiling as he said it.

"Hate what?" she asked, surprised.

"Not being the one in charge." and with that, they drove off.

She laughed, falling back onto more familiar territory as she answered him, "Oh I don't know... there are good things to be said for bondage, playing the submissive-"

"Right." Ianto interrupted, "I meant the date."

"It's too formal." she muttered, shrugging slightly.

"Would you rather get takeout and rent a movie?" Ianto asked, smiling. She shook her head. While it was true that she would prefer that, this was a new experience and she really should try to embrace it.

She was saved from having to continue this conversation by her phone ringing. She quickly pulled it out of her coat, and answered it, "Yes?"

"Torchwood?" the voice at the other end asked.

Jack rolled her eyes, "Yes." she said, her tone dropping to cold and annoyed, now.

The man on the other end of the phone went on to give an address, and explain that the police investigating the scene couldn't figure out what had happened. Two burglars had broken into a normal home on a normal street, and had been taken out by an unidentified force that didn't match any of the evidence. Since Torchwood were the experts when it came to the abnormal, the officer in charge had ordered that they be called in.

"We'll be there in ten." she answered, and as soon as she hung up the phone she groaned in irritation, "Bloody police." she said, flashing Ianto a grin at the in-joke. Everybody else said 'bloody Torchwood'.

Neither Jack nor Ianto mentioned the fact that both were relieved that the call had interrupted their plans, and both silently swore never to bring up the subject of dating again. It was more exciting and a lot more fun doing things spontaneously, anyway.

x x x

After phoning to alert them to the situation, Jack and Ianto met up with Tosh and Owen at the crime scene. Tosh had arrived first, but Owen showed up at almost the same time as they did. With one glance at him, Ianto could tell that Owen had not made it to his drinking binge any more than he and Jack had made it to their date. Well, either that or Owen had just been blowing smoke about the concept and really planned a quiet night in... though Ianto seriously doubted that was at all likely.

Luckily, Ianto was always prepared, and had a few basic essentials like scanners and a couple of guns in the back of his car, just in case something bad happened away from work. He handed a standard-issue weird-alien-rift-stuff scanner to Tosh, while both she and Owen stared openly at Jack.

"One word." Jack said, threat clear in her voice. One word about what she was wearing and they would regret it for the rest of their lives.

Owen, however, seemed willing to take that risk, muttering, "You look nice." under his breath, before very quickly going to check on the crime scene... specifically one man who had apparently landed on a police car from some height and was still alive. When he saw the state that the man was in, he immediately went into doctor-mode, trying his best to tend to the victim's injuries.

Seemed wrong to be thinking of the burglar as a victim, but that appeared to be the case, here. Still, they had work to do, and Jack showed her acceptance of Owen's desire to see to the injured man, by giving out their orders, "Owen, go with him to the hospital, see if he says anything. Call Gwen, meet her there... interview the husband and wife while you're at it." she shot a brief glance at the other two team members, and added, "Ianto, Tosh, you're with me, come on."

And she led the way into the building itself. Up a few flights of stairs to the fifth floor, and they found the crime scene. And a policeman still searching for more realistic evidence.

"Someone call Torchwood?" Jack asked, as she stepped into the room.

Ianto stayed a step behind her, hovering just to one side of the doorway, looking around at what he could see of the room from here. Tosh, on the other hand, was already halfway across the room and scanning things.

The policeman stared for about five seconds, before shaking himself out of the awestruck trance that Jack had been known to inflict upon the unwary, and asking, "What?"

"We're Torchwood." Jack repeated, smiling with amusement at the man's reaction to her appearance.

"Oh! Yes, the 'specialists'." the word was said with such sarcasm, it really annoyed Ianto to no end, "Well it is a bit weird, this one." the man admitted, glancing around the room and gesturing to the damage.

Broken desk, into which the now-dead burglar had been thrown. Window smashed open- from the inside judging by the lack of glass on the floor- and the blinds were twisted and bent, showing that they had been closed when the other victim had been thrown out of it. Cricket-bat on the floor, next to but not touching a splattering of blood. More blood on the wardrobe door, and some pretty nasty cuts across the victim's upper body and face. Bladed weapon, then. No sign of anything like that left laying around.

"We figure it probably is one of yours." the policeman said with a nod, "Nobody saw anything, heard anything. Blah, blah, blah. The usual. Don't know why we bother asking."

Jack nodded, acknowledging his words as if they had been informative, "Well thank you." she said with one of her more charming smiles, "We'll take it from here." and she placed a hand on the man's shoulder, pushing him politely towards the doorway, "Now, if you could just wait outside."

The policeman hesitated, just before leaving the room, however, "In my opinion, the husband did it." he announced, "He was looking for trouble, expecting to be burgled."

Jack paused in her attempt to shoo the man away, asking, "Really?"

"Yeah, look." the man said, indicating the cricket bat on the floor, "No other reason I can think of for keeping sports equipment in the bedroom."

Jack laughed, "Yeah, you should come round to my house for a game of hockey sometime." she said, finally getting him to leave the room and closing the door behind him. There was just enough of a joking tone in her voice to prevent Ianto from saying anything to that which could be interpreted as jealous. But even if she hadn't been joking, he wouldn't have been jealous... nope, not at all.

He wasn't jealous. Not really, he insisted to himself, he knew Jack's nature and accepted it. Still, that statement could not be allowed to get away without the question, "Hockey?" he asked, with his eyebrows raised and amusement in his voice.

"I'll show you later." she promised him with a bright grin and a wink.

Ianto stared for half a second, then smiled weakly and nodded. Sometimes Jack really scared him, but he wasn't about to complain about the offer. Instead, he cleared his throat and indicated the dead burglar on the ground, "Some sort of bladed weapon." he suggested.

Jack nodded slowly, "Which that isn't." she agreed, nudging the cricket bat with her foot.

Only now did Ianto take notice of the heels on those boots she was wearing, and he idly wondered how she walked in them so easily. Filing that away to ask later, he remained in business-mode as he added, "Nothing else here that could have done that."

Tosh was watching them carefully, now, only glancing at her scanner occasionally, to see if she had picked up anything new.

Jack shook her head, clearly quite irritated by the lack of a rational explanation. However alien it might have been, logic and reason still existed, and Ianto agreed completely with her annoyance, "So how the hell did they manage it?" she asked with a sigh, frowning at the corpse in the room, and folding her arms across her chest, just beneath her breasts. Ianto couldn't help but stare, when she did that, and the small part of his brain still thinking logically at that moment idly wondered if she knew exactly what she was doing right now.

Even Tosh had stared for a moment, but then she quickly pointed out, "Husband was unconscious, and the wife probably weighs less than I do. I can't see either of them doing this."

These words snapped Ianto out of his trance, and he quickly averted his eyes from Jack, in case he started staring again. Jack, on the other hand, was either oblivious or- much more likely- chose not to draw attention to Ianto's reaction, as he pointed out, "Well unless there's an invisible alien in the room, they're still our prime suspects."

x x x

On Jack's instructions, Gwen had kept a vigil on the injured burglar. This had proved itself to be a Very Good Idea, because his last words had incriminated the woman whose house the two victims had broken into, Beth Halloran. According to Gwen's report; 'The woman in the flat, keep her away from me'.

Jack had changed back into her normal clothing, by now, after the failed attempt at a date, but Gwen had still seen her wearing the skirt, when she had returned to the Hub half an hour ago. She was honestly quite surprised at Gwen's lack of comment on the subject. She'd almost expected some kindly intoned- and therefore unintentionally highly offensive- suggestion as to what was actually fashionable this week.

Or maybe a few seconds of wide-eyed staring... that would have been nice. But no, nothing at all.

Jack had kept the boots, though, and she was still wearing them, mostly concealed under her trousers. She really thought they suited her female form far better than the more comfortable-looking ones she had acquired on the TARDIS, they brought her back up to her original height... and it's not like she didn't know how to run in heels, anyway.

"So what do you think?" Jack asked Gwen, as they watched Beth sitting alone in the interview room, a hood over her head to prevent her seeing where she had been brought.

The woman did look perfectly harmless, really... Jack agreed with the assessment that Beth probably weighed less than Tosh, and her entire demeanour practically screamed fear and uncertainty. It was very difficult to believe that she had done this, but then again if she was an alien anything was possible.

"You be my bad-cop?" Gwen asked, with a slightly wicked smile.

"Any day." Jack laughed, giving Gwen a look that said she had read that suggestion on levels other than interrogation techniques.

Gwen nodded, ignoring the insinuation, and turned to lead the way into the interrogation room. Jack followed. As they got to the room itself, Jack took the lead, storming into the interrogation room with all the dramatic flair she was capable of- and that really was a lot- allowing the door to slam loudly behind herself and Gwen, and walking with just the right stride to cause a loud and ominous clicking sound when her heels struck the floor.

Gwen hovered back by the door, holding the file for this case against her chest, looking the perfect picture of a harmless and good girl who just works here, while Jack pulled the hood off Beth's head, as sharply as possible without catching the girl's hair or otherwise actually causing harm.

Just because they were interrogating a potentially hostile alien, did not mean she actually wanted to hurt this woman. For all Jack knew, the attack had been self-defence... method might have been a bit excessive, but it was still a possibility.

"Tell me everything." Jack ordered, looming over Beth. Considering the girl was sitting, had already cringed twice so far- at the door slamming, and then again at the hood being pulled off her head- and Jack was particularly tall for a woman, especially in these heels, it was incredibly easy to be intimidating here.

"Where am I?" Beth asked fearfully, "Where's my husband?"

"He's safe." Jack said, her words clipped and showing anger she didn't really feel.

"What do you mean, 'safe'? What have you done with him?" Beth asked. Her voice wavered slightly, and Jack got the very strong impression that the woman was more frightened for her husband than for her own safety right now.

"Nothing yet." Jack said. It was both a reassurance and a threat at the same time. A completely idle threat, but still. She saw Beth tense up at that, recognising the threat and possibly willing to comply with the questioning now. Jack leaned forward, palms on the table across from Beth, and she asked, "Tell me what happened in the flat, Beth. It had to be you or Mike, so how did you do it?"

"You can't treat people like this." Beth protested, wringing her hands nervously as she spoke, "I've been burgled, attacked! I want a lawyer, I want a phone call. If you're charging me with something-"

"We're not charging you with anything." Jack interrupted, her tone deliberately calculated to be calm but ominous, "We don't have to. And there'll be no lawyer, no phone calls, just us, and this room for as long as it takes." and very suddenly she shouted, "Now, tell me what happened!" slamming her hands onto the table for emphasis.

Beth glanced at Gwen, "I told her..." she said, her voice reaching the point that told Jack that she was gonna start crying soon, "And the police. Please, I don't know anything!"

Gwen stepped forward now, a sad but determined expression on her face as she opened the file and spread photographs of the dead burglar- this woman's victim- across the table. Beth cringed, averting her eyes, when she saw them.

"Look at them." Jack ordered firmly.

With great reluctance, Beth obeyed, horror written all over her face as she scanned the images there.

"The second one just died in the hospital." Jack said coldly, "'Keep her away from me. The woman in the flat.' Those were his dying words. Now, why would he say something like that?"

Beth's voice cracked as she answered, this time, "I don't know, I swear. I never touched him."

"Is it Mike? Are you covering for him?" Jack asked, trying to get her to admit what they knew she had done, to protect her husband from similar accusations.

"No!" Beth yelled, her eyes closed tight. And with that word, as if it was a command, the light in the room suddenly went out, flickered, and came back again, as if reacting to Beth's fear and anger.

Gwen put a hand on Jack's shoulder, to tell her to back down. It was time for the good-cop to take over, now. Still maintaining an air of anger and now some degree of indignity, as if she really didn't want to be chased out of there by Gwen, Jack turned and left the room, closing the door behind her with just a little more force than was really necessary.

She quickly made her way back up to the observation room, to find the other three analysing the entire interview so far. Tosh was monitoring the computer terminal attached to the scanners hidden in the interview room, Owen was lurking right next to Tosh's desk, and Ianto had been watching right up by the one-way-glass.

Jack joined him, looking down into the room to see how Gwen was doing, now. "'Just us and this room for as long as it takes'?" Ianto quoted, sounding slightly awed. She looked at him, to see him leaning against the glass watching her, "Terrifying."

"Really?" Jack asked, amused, though she didn't show it.

"Absolutely." Ianto nodded, "Shivers down my spine."

"You don't look scared." she pointed out.

"Oh, it... passed." Ianto said, not looking at her, now.

With a slight growl and a sudden movement that could have been mistaken for the intention to hit him- and didn't even make him blink- Jack turned away to address the others, "Tosh, anything on the body scan?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary." she answered, her voice clinical and detached, as she continued to read the screen in front of her.

"What about the light?" Jack asked, leaning back against a nearby desk, as she watched Tosh working, "Power surge?"

"Nothing from us." Tosh said, "There was an electromagnetic build-up around her, but I can't see how she caused it."

"Same thing happened at the hospital." Owen informed them, "Can't be a coincidence."

"It's her, I know it is." Jack said with certainty, turning to face Owen, "Okay, let's do some tests, see who or what we're dealing with."

x x x

"It's not a big deal." Jack protested, a few hours later. They were in the medical/autopsy room, now, and this wasn't the first time Owen had chosen the least opportune moment to start asking her medical questions. She was beginning to think that he was _hoping _ that someone would walk in and catch them, so he wouldn't have to keep the secret anymore.

"It's not normal." Owen pointed out.

"We're Torchwood. Are you surprised?" she snapped.

"Alien biology. Annoys the hell out of me." Owen grumbled, before grinning at her, "Wouldn't change this job for the world, though."

"I'm not sure what you expect me to say, anyway." Jack offered by way of a truce, "I'm sorry for not vomiting on you?"

"Yet." Owen warned, frowning at her, "And loving the mental imagery there." he added sarcastically.

"There are some people who actually like that sort of thing." Jack added with amusement, "It's a big fetish for the native species of the Avifor system."

"I didn't need to know that." Owen muttered, shaking his head and turning away in disgust as Jack started laughing. "On a more serious note." he interrupted, "So far everything else looks relatively normal. I mean, if I didn't know you were supposed to be a man."

"And I told you not to worry. If we keep meeting in secret like this, the others are going to start jumping to conclusions." Jack warned, with a grin.

Owen pulled a disgusted face, but refrained from retort because they both heard Gwen's voice calling, "This way, Beth. Owen, are you in there?" Seconds later, Gwen led Beth into the medical room. Jack felt slightly suspicious at just how intently Beth was staring around the place, taking in everything with a degree of curiosity that even the Doctor might call out as abnormal for a human.

Once Beth was settled and strapped into the examination chair, without another word from anyone, Owen pulled out a standard blood-sample bottle. One of those newer needles that uses a vacuum to draw up the blood instead of relying on the user's steady hands to work a syringe. Honestly, any idiot who could find a vein could work that thing... which was probably good news if Jack ever needed to get a blood sample from anything when Owen wasn't around to do it for her.

"We'll start with a few blood tests." Owen said in a calming voice, "Nothing to worry about, just a little..." he turned around, and they all saw Beth flinch in fear at the sight of the needle, "...needle." his last word was muttered as he realised just how scared she was.

But it didn't stop him going for her arm with the thing. Even Jack had an aversion to sharp objects- however benign- like this. He pulled the needle away and held it up to look at it, with an air of confusion that Jack could feel even without seeing his face. "What?" Jack asked.

"Needle snapped." Owen said darkly.

"Haven't you got a nurse to do this?" Beth asked, clearly taking this strange occurrence as a sign of incompetence, which cause Owen's frown to deepen as he turned to pick up another needle.

"He's a doctor. It's okay." Gwen reassured her.

Owen tried again, very quickly pulling the needle up to where he could see the broken tip. Jack had leaned forward, from her spot behind the railings, and could just make out this fact with her own eyes, as well, now.

Beth was clearly getting very nervous here, "Ah, okay. Look, I'm not going to do this if you can't even-" but she froze, eyes wide as Owen picked up a scalpel, "What are you doing?" she demanded, terrified.

"Bear with me." Owen said calmly, in spite of her continued protests, as he leaned over her arm and pressed the sharp edge of the scalpel to it.

At that angle, the worst he would do to her was a shallow and slightly stinging cut... but instead the scalpel itself broke. This time, Jack saw the look on Owen's face as he stared at the broken instrument, and considered that if this weren't such a serious situation it would have been very, very funny.

Owen turned to face Beth directly, "When was the last time you were in hospital, Beth?"

"I- I don't remember." she answered, "I don't think I ever have. Why, what's wrong with me?"

"Well, any operations? Checkups?" Owen persisted.

"No, nothing." Beth said nervously.

"When was the last time you felt ill?" Owen continued, "You had a cold? Anything?"

"I don't think I ever have." Beth said, shaking her head, and adding the rather weak explanation of, "I take a lot of vitamin C."

"Mm, hell of a lot I reckon." Owen grumbled, dropping his broken scalpel onto the tray with the rest of the sharp things he kept there.

"Okay, Beth." Jack said coldly, straightening up from where she had been leaning on the railing, and affecting her best intimidating tone as she asked, "You make light bulbs blow, we can't break your skin. What planet are you from?"

"Earth." she answered, sounding genuinely confused. She was a good actor, but Jack was getting very annoyed by the woman's persistence, in spite of the damning evidence.

"Stop wasting our time!" Jack snapped, "We know you're an alien!"

Beth looked right back at her, eyes wide with fear, and if she was lying now she was better at it than John Hart, as she said, "There's no such thing as aliens."

"Want to bet?" Jack asked, quickly moving to remove the straps on Beth's wrists.

x x x

Janet had become aware of a shift in the pack dynamic of her hosts. The alpha-male had returned, but... while the identity, the mind, was definitely the same, the gender had changed. Now an alpha-female. She found it fascinating that the rest of the pack, especially the two males, had still accepted her leadership, given the change.

A pack was usually led by the most powerful male presence, but this one maintained her control in spite of that. Especially as it had become clearer in her mind over the last few weeks- she could hear it more than she could smell it- that the pack-leader was with child. Just when she believed that she understood this species, they found new ways to challenge her mind. She was actually growing to like them, in spite of her captivity.

But now, the alpha-female brought another to the edge Janet's personal territory. There was threat and anger in the air, as the pack-leader introduced them with the vocalisations that Janet had learned to understand from the two males. Words, speech... that was what they called it. She had tried to imitate it for the younger male- he showed kindness more than the beady-eyed one- but had never managed to correctly convey her message in that medium.

"Beth, Janet. Janet, Beth." names. This new female was named Beth. Janet bared her teeth at the interloper, determined to establish her rank.

"What is it?" Beth asked, emanating fear in waves.

"She's an alien." the pack-leader answered, "But you know that 'cause you're one, too." This interested Janet. The unfamiliar female did smell like one of them, and she knew the word 'alien' meant any species not like them.

"No, it's not." Beth shook her head, denying it, "I'm not. I work in an office."

"Why do you give off electro-magnetic waves?" the pack-leader asked. When no answer came immediately, she snarled at the interloper, "Why?"

Not all the words made sense to Janet, but she understood enough. Questioning an ability that their kind should not have.

"I don't know!" Beth cried, and it sounded honest, "Stop it! Why are you doing this? I want Mike. I want to go home."

Janet moved closer, now. The fear was real, but the more she read in Beth's mind the less like them she seemed. Then she heard the truth. '_Fear me, creature. This world will consume itself at my commander's will._' Janet cringed from the echoing in her mind and the power behind the emotion. A threat, one not to challenge. She retreated, offering apology.

"Why is it doing that?" Beth asked, true confusion in her words. She had not heard her own thoughts.

"I don't know." the pack-leader said, glancing at Janet and showing genuine concern in her mind and on her face, "She's never done it before."

Janet looked to her, now, silently giving warning. This was a threat, it should be eliminated if possible. She was sure it was in vain, their kind had never heard her emotions before.

The intruder asked, "This is real, isn't it?" still showing confusion and fear.

"Yeah." the pack-leader frowned, watching Janet now, her single word of answer distracted by confusion at Janet's fear. Had she heard, then? Or just read body-language?

"I don't know about my skin, or any of that other stuff." Beth said, expressing nervousness, "I just- how can I prove it to you? How can I... prove to you... that I'm not an alien?"

Janet scowled at the intruder, her thoughts quite clear, '_You can't._'

x x x

Gwen watched with confusion as Jack and Ianto brought out the equipment. A chair on wheels, and a headset of some kind. She had never seen them before.

"You said we weren't allowed to use that again." Tosh pointed out, sounding a bit edgy.

"It's just a mind probe." Jack said, sharply, with a glance at Gwen.

"Remember what happened last time we used it?" Ianto asked, as he continued to work on the chair part of it, obediently. While he seemed calm as he said it, Gwen was sure it was meant as a warning, rather than the idle question it was made to sound like.

"That was different." Jack said with a frown, like she didn't want to remember that, "That species has extremely high blood pressure."

"Oh, right, their heads must explode all the time." Ianto sniped sarcastically.

Gwen's eyes widened in shock at this, and she felt compelled to point out, "Jack, you can't do this. What if you're wrong? If she is human, it'll kill her."

"I'm not wrong." Jack assured her, "We have to find out what she is." Gwen was still sceptical, as she watched Ianto sit in the chair, checking the restraints were securely attached.

"Take it easy, Jack." Tosh warned, "Stop at the first sign of trouble."

"Or the first sign of exploding." Ianto added, in a perfectly serious tone. Gwen had to do a double-take to realise he was mostly joking.

"Gwen, bring her up." Jack ordered.

With a reluctant sigh, Gwen shrugged, "Okay." she said, surrendering to her boss's orders and really hoping that Jack knew what she was doing.

As she left the room she distinctly heard Ianto making sound-effects that implied he was pretending he was in an electric chair. She didn't look back. It really wasn't funny.

Beth had been only a few corridors away, in a small room that wasn't officially a holding area at all but had a lock on the outside of the door and a security camera inside, so it made do. She had looked up with fear when the door had opened, and Gwen cringed a little inside at the idea that she was part of the cause of that fear.

Without a word, Gwen beckoned for Beth to follow her, and led her up to the main floor where the mind probe had been set up. She hated this... what if she was an alien but this pissed her off? Or worse, what if Beth really was just a human, and this killed her?

She really didn't think she could handle watching someone's head explode, alien or not.

Gwen knew that Jack had already explained the basics- the words 'mind probe' had probably been all the detail mentioned- to Beth before even mentioning it to the rest of the team, which annoyed her to no end. She watched uneasily as Beth sat down in the metal chair, looking nervous.

Tosh applied the wrist-straps, checking that they weren't too tight, and Beth nervously nodded, murmuring, "It's fine." before looking up at Gwen, "You sure this is safe?"

'_Why'd she have to look at me?_' Gwen wondered, '_Jack's standing just over there, and it was all her idea!_' Still, she nodded, mouthing the word, "Yeah." and barely making a sound in spite of trying to speak with confidence. This was just wrong, in her mind. So very wrong.

"Just try not to, you know, kill me or anything, okay?" Beth was only joking to alleviate her nervousness, but Gwen grimaced at the words.

"You'll probably get dehydrated... during the probing." Ianto said matter-of-factly, offering her some water. '_Now there's a concept many people will associate with aliens_', Gwen couldn't help but think.

Beth murmured her thanks, and Owen put the probe itself onto her head, carefully. Gwen didn't miss the questioning 'are you really sure about this?' look that he shot Jack before doing this.

Gwen shifted nervously, trying not to think about what they were about to do, until finally Tosh announced, "We're all set." and Jack stepped forward, taking control of the operation.

"The probe drills down through your consciousness, so if there's anything hidden, it'll pop to the surface." she explained, affecting an air of authority and calm that managed to allay some of Gwen's misgivings... though not all, not by a long shot.

"Will it hurt?" Beth asked, still nervous.

Jack hesitated for a moment, before answering, "Yeah."

Beth scowled, and pointed out, "Your bedside manner's rubbish."

Gwen repressed the nervous laughter, and tried to make a joke to break the tension instead, "You should see her manners in bed, they're atrocious." she realised what she'd just said, and quickly added, "Apparently. So I've heard." fidgeting with a lock of her own hair as she said this.

"Oh, they are." Ianto said, in perfect seriousness, and when Gwen looked at him it seemed clear he wanted to say something else, but thought better of it. Jack pretended not to notice this.

Gwen stepped forward and knelt in front of Beth, putting her hands on Beth's knees in what she hoped was a reassuring gesture, "Alright, we all ready?"

Beth nodded, still nervous, "I suppose."

Gwen accepted this as the best answer they were going to get, and spoke as calmly as she could, "Okay, we'll do this slowly. Tosh will control the probe, Owen will make sure you're not in danger, Ianto will have more water when you need it, and I'll be right here, okay?"

Beth's eyes turned to Jack, as she asked, "And what about her? What does she do?"

"I'm the one in charge here." Jack answered. "And if we find anything unusual, I'll be asking the questions." Beth frowned at that, clearly realising that this was just another interrogation, but she didn't retort.

"Are you ready, Beth?" Gwen asked, still trying to sound reassuring. She was sure it wasn't working, though. Beth nodded, and Gwen forced a smile, "Okay." She stood up and took a couple of steps back, to stand next to Jack.

Jack nodded, "Okay, Tosh." indicating that they should begin.

Gwen tried to tune it out, when Beth started screaming in pain. She looked anywhere but at the other woman... or any of her team-mates. How could they just stand there and watch this, like it was just a science experiment or something? When she'd first been recruited, Jack had admitted that they needed someone like Gwen to act as a humanising influence on them, but now she was just as bad! Standing back and allowing this to happen, just because... just because she trusted Jack's judgement that Beth was really an alien.

It took far too long, and they found nothing. Jack kept ordering Tosh to set the mind-probe deeper, completely immune to Beth's pleading. Owen paid more attention to the statistics on his monitor, announcing that it was safe without a care for how Beth felt about it. Ianto just... watched, wearing a dark but unreadable expression... it looked like he wasn't happy about it, but he didn't make a move to stop it, and he didn't look away. Gwen tried to protest, but Jack shouted over her. Tosh, at least, questioned the order to probe deeper, but still obeyed when it was repeated.

The lights started to flicker, just as they had in the hospital and in the interrogation room. Gwen's misgivings failed for a moment, when she saw this evidence of Beth's inhuman powers, while the others began to show the opposite reaction. Owen admitted that he didn't think she could take much more, Tosh fearfully reported the EMP effects, and even Ianto's dark stare was broken by the lights going. But then, just as it looked like they would have to give up, Beth finally seemed to pass out, falling silent and slumping forward in the metal chair.

The lights stopped flickering, and everyone stared at Beth. After an interminable moment, she sat up straight, with a military air about the way she moved. Her arms turned in the restraints, so her palms faced up, and something on her right arm shifted, changed. Gwen had no idea what it was, and for some reason she felt quite certain that she didn't really want to. It looked dangerous, like some sort of spiny, red-glowing... well, alien thing.

"Oh, my God!" Gwen whimpered, staring at Beth's arm. She made to step forward, to get a closer look, but Jack stopped her.

"I wouldn't get that close." she warned, before looking up at the others, "Tosh, what happened?"

Tosh read off the screen, and answered professionally, if still a bit shocked, "Hit a buried compartment. Locked away. She couldn't have been aware of it."

Jack moved to stand directly in front of Beth, at what she deemed to be a safe distance, and asked, "Who are you?"

Beth didn't look at Jack, her eyes straight forward as she answered, her voice lower and monotone, with an unfamiliar accent, "Kayehla Janees, putaak graszh, ish nin fas du hap vac nal."

"Where are you from?" Jack asked, now.

"Kayehla Janees, putaak graszh, ish nin fas du hap vac nal."

Jack rolled her eyes, folding her arms across her chest and looking annoyed now, "How do you like my boots?" she asked.

Beth's eyes turned down to look at Jack's feet, but then back to staring straight in front of her, "Kayehla Janees, putaak graszh, ish nin fas du hap vac nal."

Jack watched Beth for a moment, frowning in thought, like she was debating something... or, Gwen suddenly thought, as she watched Jack's face carefully, assessing a threat, "Tosh, run a remote scan of her right arm."

Tosh began typing commands into the computer, as Gwen asked, "Jack, what is it, what was she saying?"

"Name, rank, serial number, and that's all she's gonna say." Jack answered, watching Beth carefully, a faint but very cold smile flickering across her face, before she asked, "Isn't that right, Kayehla?" Gwen saw Beth blink three times very quickly, as if surprised, but she didn't answer this time.

"How do you know?" Tosh asked, still watching her computer screen as she ran the scan.

"Because I know who she is and why she's here." Jack was still watching Beth as she said this. Gwen saw that surprised blinking again.

"Scan complete." Tosh announced.

Jack unfolded her arms, quickly ordering, "Switch off the probe."

Tosh obeyed quickly, announcing as she pressed the final button, "Off."

And Beth's arm reverted to looking human as she gasped for air. Once she appeared safe, Jack nodded to Owen, telling him wordlessly that it was alright to move closer now... he immediately approached the chair and carefully removed the probe from Beth's head. Gwen watched, uncertainly, as Beth shuddered, but she didn't dare move closer, even if Jack had implied that it was okay now.

"Oh, you weren't lying, that really hurt!" Beth said, still reeling from the pain. Finally, she looked up at them, and asked, "Did you find anything?"

Gwen had no idea how to answer that.

x x x


	6. Tin Cans With Bits Of String

x x x

**Chapter 6: Mobiles, Landlines, Tin Cans With Bits Of String**

x x x

Her name was Kayehla Janees, second lieutenant, serial number 8952710. Perfect military efficiency, but these beings knew nothing else. They weren't technically a species, but rather a sub-sect of their species. Sleeper agents, sent to other worlds to infiltrate and eliminate the natives. And that was the height of it, all that Jack knew about them. She didn't know how they were adapted so perfectly... and possibly more important, she didn't know why they wanted to eliminate the inhabitants of other worlds.

"She's a sleeper agent. It all clicked when I saw the implant." Jack announced to the rest of the team. They were all in the conference room, now. Information was displayed on various screens around the room. Behind Gwen and Owen was the security camera in the cells where Beth was held. On the smaller screens and one larger screen facing Jack, were playbacks of a vast amount of information that they had found stored within the implant on Kayehla's arm.

"A sleeper agent? Who for?" Owen asked.

"No-one knows very much." Jack said, shaking her head, "They don't leave survivors. Official designation is Cell One-One-Four. They infiltrate planets, adapting their bodies, gathering intelligence, sometimes for years, watching, until they're ready to take over."

"Okay, that's... creepy." Gwen said, expressing her discomfort quite clearly in her posture.

"If we're lucky, she's the first." Jack continued, "They send an advance guard to gather intel. Give them false memories so they blend in." Oh, and didn't that remind her of someone else. But she carefully avoided showing any sign of that thought. She glanced up at the security footage, which showed Beth sitting in the room looking sorry for herself. "She has no idea she's not human. Her real self must have taken over briefly, killed the burglars. Self preservation."

"Told you she did it." Owen muttered to Gwen, just a little too loud to be a whisper.

"The point is-" Jack said, pointedly ignoring Owen's remark, "By the time they attack, they know every single thing about the planet. Tosh." she nodded to indicate that Tosh should now show them what she had discovered from the scans.

Tosh stood up, in front of one of the screens, "The implant gathers information. Normal X-rays don't show it. She's projecting a false image." she indicated the screen behind her, as it flashed very quickly through vast amounts of information, "It's got all this data stored inside it." She then turned her laptop around, so they could see the data on that, as well, continuing, "This is a force-field generator. It creates an impervious layer above the skin, just a nanometre thick." she glanced at Owen as she added, "That's why you couldn't get the needle inside her."

"Right, well..." Owen said, rolling his eyes. But then he actually looked at the larger screen, "God, look, they even know about us."

Ianto stared in surprise, "They know more about this place than I do." he actually hit the table with one hand as he added with emphasis and some anger, "Nobody knows more than I do."

Owen's eyes darted to Jack for a second, but he didn't give any other indication of his obvious amusement at Ianto's behaviour. Jack had seen that sense of smugness coming the moment Ianto had spoken, and she met the brief glance with a cold glare.

"What if there's more of them?" Gwen asked, "What are we gonna do about this?"

Jack frowned, knowing the cruelty of what she was about to suggest, but also that it was the best thing to do in this situation, "For a start... I think we should tell her."

The rest of the team took that as their cue to leave the conference room, but Ianto hesitated, waiting for Jack to be alone so that they could speak.

Finally, she looked up at him, "You okay, Ianto?"

"It's a scary thought, sir." he said, glancing at the screen that displayed the data the Sleeper had collected.

Jack smiled darkly, "That someone else knows more than you?"

"Well... yes, but I meant-" he frowned, moving to sit in the chair right next to hers, "I meant the idea that someone- anyone- could be... well, something like that, and not even know it."

Jack sat back in her chair, frowning, "It's never who you expect, is it?" she asked, sighing, "I've seen this sort of thing before, not just what I've read about Sleepers, but... other methods and reasons to hide behind such a good illusion that they believe it themselves."

"But how do we know we're really... well, us?" Ianto asked, frowning, "I mean... if it could be anyone."

She looked at him, "There are ways to scan for Sleepers, I'm just not sure of exactly how. And usually, if they're caught out they leave that planet alone."

"You said there were others?" he persisted.

"That, I'm less sure of." she admitted, "I know one in particular that seems completely foolproof, but I doubt we'll ever see a threat from that again."

"What I meant..." Ianto said, frowning, "Even if the... other... wasn't a threat. What about the human mind?" he looked up at the screen which still showed Beth in the holding cell, "Everything she is, it's a lie. An illusion, invented by some alien so that they can destroy the planet that she thinks is her home."

"She's still real." Jack said immediately, "Everything she believes, remembers, feels. It's all real and it's all human."

"How?"

"Because that's what defines humanity, isn't it?" Jack asked, with a smile, "Our emotions, our memories... our choices." she paused, considering how to convince him. "If a man saved thousands of lives, selflessly willing to die to do so... but then later was taken over by a malicious mind that had always been there, like the Sleepers... does that make the man who saved those people a monster? Would it cancel out the choices he made, or make the memory of him any less in the eyes of those he saved?"

"No." Ianto admitted, shaking his head, "It wouldn't."

Jack smiled faintly, and stood to leave, "Honestly, in his case, I'm not sure the being that destroyed him is entirely irredeemable, either." and with that, she swept out of the conference room, leaving Ianto alone.

Ianto blinked and stared after her in confusion for a couple of seconds, before jumping up and following her, calling out, "Wait, that was a true story?"

x x x

Apparently, Beth hadn't taken the news well. Ianto couldn't blame her, really. The very thought of it- of not being real, of being possessed by a force you can't fight- was almost certainly going to give him nightmares... not that he would ever admit as much to his co-workers. He had been reluctant to even mention it to Jack.

It had been Tosh's idea to freeze Beth. Everyone else had agreed, and Beth had even begged not to be allowed to wake up unless they found a way to make her entirely human... to make her safe.

Ianto had sealed her into the vault himself, while Gwen watched.

Now he was just returning to the main floor of the Hub, when the lights started to go again. This time it was accompanied by alarms sounding.

"Can somebody tell me what the hell is going on?" Jack shouted, as she emerged from her office.

"Oh, shit!" Gwen shouted, as she looked at the monitors.

"What happened?" Jack demanded, quickly moving to watch the screen over Gwen's shoulder.

"Beth's gone." Gwen announced. That was definitely not a good thing. Ianto looked at Gwen's computer screen, and even from his poor vantage point at the far side of the room, he could see the security camera footage of the cryo-vault door sitting open. The cryo-vault door that he had definitely locked less than fifteen minutes ago, and Gwen had been there as a witness.

"I thought she was frozen!" Jack snapped.

"She was!" Owen answered, "All her vitals were at zero."

"Checking systems, command history..." Tosh said, distractedly, as she worked at her computer.

Jack quickly ran over to look at the screen over Tosh's shoulder, "What did she do?" she asked, "Is it a virus, a lockdown?"

"No." Tosh answered, looking confused now, "She just turned off the lights."

"What is it with her and light bulbs?" Jack asked, sounding almost sulky about that. As soon as she had realised there was no permanent harm done, she had gone from near-panic to sardonic and snarky in a heartbeat. As soon as she said that, the alarms silenced, and the lights came back on again.

"She went through the tunnels." Tosh informed them, efficiently.

"Time to change the locks again." Ianto said bluntly. It may be a fact, but the way he said it was intended to join Jack in her morbid half-joking mood.

Jack frowned, clearly deep in thought as she crossed the room, almost pacing. "No no no, she knew everything about this place. It was all in her implant. The tunnels, layout, security codes." she stopped, facing them but not actually looking at them, "She could've shut us down, blown us up, anything!"

"But she didn't." Gwen observed. Talk about stating the obvious... although her tone was more questioning why than actually pointing out what they had already kind of noticed.

"Oh, I swear, she was frozen." Owen said, defensively. He had been the one to freeze her, so naturally he wanted to deflect any accusations. But Ianto had seen the cryo-unit as it had been stored away, and he had also seen that Beth was frozen.

"Tosh, you switched off the transceiver?" Jack asked, urgently.

"Yes." she answered immediately.

"Are you sure?" Jack pressed. It really was the most important part of this whole situation, from what Ianto had gathered. If the Sleepers' homeworld got news that Kayehla had been deactivated, it would be truly disastrous. Far worse than just having one of them on the loose, to track down.

"Well..." Tosh said nervously, "I was until you asked." She glanced at her computer screen, "Unless it was another false image."

"Hang on, hang on, hang on." Owen said quickly. He had clearly just made a very important connection, "Everything about her was a lie. All of her vital signs were a false image. She can fool the equipment. She can tell it what we're expecting to see. So, you know, she gets scared and it projects an increased heart rate. We try and freeze it and it does the opposite."

Tosh's eyes widened with realisation, "Simulating that much information would need a huge amount of energy." she added, "No wonder she had a big electromagnetic field."

"Well, that's why the lights blew every time she got upset." Owen said, nodding in agreement.

"So, what's she doing?" Tosh asked, frowning in confusion as she added, concerned, "Did we activate her?"

Jack shook her head, "She couldn't be activated. If she was, we'd all be dead." so that confirmed it, then, "We took her off the network. She has some other agenda."

"Well what would we do in her position?" Ianto asked, already beginning to have an idea as to what _he _ would do.

Jack frowned, folding her arms as she considered the question, obviously not able to think of an answer. It was Gwen who said what Ianto had been trying to hint at, "She wanted to see Mike again."

"So she's gone to the hospital." Ianto agreed, frowning at the fact that Jack hadn't been able to draw that conclusion herself. Would she not want to say goodbye to those she loved, in that situation? Or would she just disappear again one day, and never come back?

Jack nodded, accepting their answer as the most likely conclusion, "You three, stay here and try to figure out a way to track, freeze, or otherwise incapacitate her. Gwen, you're with me." Jack said, quickly turning and running out of the Hub, with Gwen hot on her heels.

x x x

The hospital was still in one piece. Either this was a good sign, or they'd been wrong about where Beth would go. Jack wasn't sure, but Gwen seemed so certain that this was the first thing Beth would want to do. Assuming she was still Beth, and not Kayehla.

Gwen quickly led the way up to the room that Mike was in. They had just turned the corner into the correct corridor, when they heard Beth screaming, "_Help! Help! Somebody, get a doctor! Help! Somebody!_" Jack and Gwen exchanged a look, then very quickly ran down the corridor, past a deserted nurses station, "_SOMEBODY!_" Beth shrieked again, louder.

As they ran into the room, Jack raised her gun against Beth, just in case Kayehla had taken over... but the horror on Beth's face made it clear exactly who was in control of her body right now. Problem was, she clearly hadn't been in control a moment ago, because Mike had been stabbed, and was bleeding very badly.

"Beth!" Jack called to her, and she looked up, still in shock, and utterly horrified at what she had done.

Jack quickly moved past Beth and checked Mike's pulse, keeping the gun trained on the Sleeper as she did so. He was dead, or at least his heart had stopped. "Sorry... I was just... it was an accident. I just wanted to say goodbye..." Beth rambled, obviously traumatised by what Kayehla had made her do.

As Gwen moved to try to comfort Beth, Jack warned her, "She's got a weapon system built into her arm."

Gwen checked it with the scanner, "Clear." she announced, not that the scanners had proved themselves to be one hundred percent reliable, in Beth's case. But it would have to do.

"It's getting worse." Jack observed. Obvious as it may be, she needed to make both Gwen and Beth understand just how serious this situation was, "She's losing control. We need to contain her fast."

"Come on, Beth." Gwen said, quickly, "Let's get you back."

"No." Beth cried, shaking her head.

"Come on!" Gwen insisted, trying to pull her to her feet.

"No!" Beth repeated, going limp and becoming a dead weight. One of the most infuriating ways to resist, because at least if someone struggles you can usually count on them to stay on their own feet.

"We have to go now. Get up." Jack insisted, pulling Beth's left arm over her shoulder and hauling her to her feet, whether she liked it or not. With Gwen on her other side, holding Beth's arm very deliberately so that her right hand was pointing away from both of them, they led her out of the hospital room just as the medical staff ran in.

"He's bleeding!" Jack heard one nurse shout, shocked. Had they all been on their tea-break, when the alarm button and Beth's screaming had failed to draw their attention? Were they all busy and thought that it could wait? Or were they just sitting around gossiping about cute doctors? Not something Jack would begrudge them in any other circumstances, but they just _had _ to wait for the cardiac-arrest alarm before they would do anything! Jack hated hospitals.

Once they were far enough away from the room, Jack put her free hand up to activate her commlink, "Tosh, we got her. It's all over. We're on our way."

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than an explosion sounded behind them. '_Yes, Jack, tempt fate, why don't you?_' She thought, as they fell forward from the force of the blast.

Jack quickly glanced to Beth and Gwen, "You okay?" she asked, already starting to pick herself up as Gwen answered.

"Yeah ... I think so, yeah." Gwen sat up, looking back towards the general direction of the explosion.

Jack looked as well, and saw that a whole section of the wall of the building had been blown in from the outside, "What the hell was that?" she asked, tapping her comm so that Tosh could hear her question, as her free arm wrapped itself defensively around her waist without consulting her brain beforehand.

"Petrol tanker." Tosh's voice answered, in that slightly distracted tone that implies she's looking it up and reading it off her computer, "Looks like someone wanted to take out the M4 link road for some re-" she hesitated, clearly noticing something else, "No! It's not the road. There's an underground fuel pipeline. It's a special fuel supply for the military. They use it in emergencies."

"Not anymore. Hold on." Owen's voice said sharply, over the comms, "I've got a report coming through. Patrick Grainger's been murdered."

"Who?" Tosh asked. Jack glanced at Gwen, and she nodded. The silent agreement that, whatever the problem was, they should still get out of the hospital, and take Beth with them. Together they pulled Beth to her feet and continued to make their way out of the now panic-stricken building.

"Leader of the council, stabbed several times in the chest, and once in the forehead." Owen answered clearly, before adding in a morbidly sardonic tone, "Sound familiar?"

"Why would anyone want to kill him?" Gwen asked.

"He's also the city co-ordinator." Ianto informed them, "Takes charge of the city in case of major emergencies. Has all the security protocols."

"Well, how do you know that?" Owen demanded, snarkily.

"I know everything." Ianto said, a bit smugly, before adding, "And it says so on the bottom of the screen."

They had just reached the front door of the hospital, now, as Jack spoke now, "There's more than just Beth, the others must have noticed when we disconnected her. Gwen, take her."

She quickly ducked out from under Beth's arm, and Gwen helped Beth to sit down on the steps, still trying to comfort her, murmuring assurances that it would be okay, when even Jack couldn't begin to guess if that was a possibility, let alone likely.

Jack tapped her commlink, to make sure the rest of the team could hear her, as she ran over to the SUV, "Tosh, Owen, Ianto, it's starting. It's happening right now!"

She had reached out to open the SUV when she heard the shrieking of feedback in her ear, and quickly pulled away the commlink, glaring at it with more venom than was entirely necessary. It was memories of Cybermen that fuelled that hateful glower, more than the current situation. She immediately took out her cell phone, and hit the speed-dial for the Hub, but nothing happened.

She looked at the screen, saw 'no network available', and swore. She consciously chose to swear in Gallifreyan, and if the Doctor's word for it was right, the words she chose translated as something approximating 'son of a Racnoss'. She was cursing one being in particular, and didn't doubt that the phone network being in any way vulnerable was entirely _his _ fault.

She turned to see Gwen scowling at her own earpiece, which she held in her hand, looking surprised and highly offended that the piece of technology had betrayed her. "It's not just her." Jack announced, stalking over to Gwen and Beth, "She's part of a cell, and they've activated. It's already started." she knelt next to Beth, purposefully to her left, not allowing that weapon-arm to aim her way. With effort, she fought down her anger and forced her voice to sound calm as she commanded the freed Sleeper, "Tell me how to stop it."

"It can't be." Beth whimpered, shaking her head in denial.

"It's happening now, and we're all going to die if you don't tell us how to stop it." Jack said, forcefully. While she did resist the urge to yell at the scared human girl, Beth... she desperately wanted to strangle the arrogant alien woman, Kayehla.

Gwen shot a cold look at Jack, and then moved so she was kneeling right in front of Beth, on the steps, both hands on Beth's shoulders, in a comforting gesture. Jack had always admired Gwen's way with people, and right now it could literally save the planet. She moved back, not rising to stand yet, but giving Gwen room to work her magic.

"Beth, look at me." she said, managing to sound both urgent and calming at once. Beth tried- out of fear- not to obey, but Gwen was insistent, pleading rather than anger raising her voice, "Look at me!" and now Beth did obey, "How do we stop this?" Gwen asked gently.

"I don't know." Beth said, her voice trembling with fear. She sounded like she might start crying at any moment, "I'm cut off from the cell. I don't know what the mission is. I'm sorry."

"What about your implant?" Gwen persisted, grasping at any faintest hope she could think of, "How did you get out of Torchwood?"

Beth frowned, looking down at her arm, "The technology is part of me. I can switch it on, I can use the tools." she really sounded like she didn't want to have that ability. After what happened to Mike, Jack didn't blame her for that.

"Can you do that now?" Gwen asked, hopefully, "Can you trace the other cell, Beth?" but Beth was already shaking her head violently, desperately, before that sentence had even been finished.

"No! What if it goes wrong?" she cried, eyes shut tight as she continued to shake her head in denial of the option.

"If you don't, Beth, other people will die." Gwen said, desperately. It was true, and unlike Jack, Gwen's compassion beat out her pride every time, and she was perfectly willing to beg for help to save others, "Not just Mike."

Jack saw the resolution on Beth's face, and watched nervously as she lowered her gaze to her right arm, taking deep breaths to try to calm herself. Instinct told Jack to back away a bit more, but instead she compromised, moving behind Beth, resting a hand on her left shoulder in what she hoped was a reassuring way. If that blade came out, it wouldn't be able to reach this way by accident.

Beth's eyes darted to Jack, very briefly, but then she nodded slightly, accepting the gesture and resumed her concentration. The implant lit up, under Beth's skin, and the spines and ripples shifted on her arm. Jack frowned, watching it carefully. Beth put her hand over the implant, and closed her eyes, as if she could hear it speaking to her.

Her eyes flew open after a moment, and she spoke- shakily, but with certainty- "There's only one left. I can track him."

x x x

Gwen drove, at Jack's command. Beth had given them some directions, and Jack was now working on her cell phone. "Bloody Archangel, works when you'd like it not to, but now... oh no. That would make things too easy." she grumbled, beginning to root through a pocket of her coat. "Come on."

Finally finding whatever she was looking for, Jack inserted it into the datacard slot on her phone. It beeped loudly, four times in quick succession. Gwen knew she'd heard that sound before, somewhere. Couldn't place where.

"Yes!" Jack cheered, holding the phone up to her ear, but her positive attitude deflated quite quickly, "Oh, you're kidding... universal signal, my ass." she hissed, looking out the window, and suddenly pointing, "Pull over here."

Gwen scowled- this was a life-or-death situation, and she wanted a pit-stop because of the _phone_? She wasn't even sure where 'here' was, it looked like Jack had indicated a shop of some sort, but not one that Gwen recognised.

As soon as the vehicle was moving slowly enough- though it hadn't stopped yet- Jack was out the door, with the uninformative words, "I've got an idea." and then she was running up to the shop.

Gwen stopped the car, shrugging to Beth, before climbing out to find out what Jack was up to, "Jack!" not that Jack ever listened. Gwen waited, arms folded, and glowering at thin air.

She glanced at Beth- stuck in the back seat- occasionally, looking apologetic as she did so, in spite of the fact that every time she looked it was to ensure the Sleeper wasn't trying to up and leave again. This only managed to last for about a minute, before Jack came running back, carrying a couple of things, and quickly assembling them as she ran.

Jack hopped into the driver's seat, and Gwen quickly ran to leap into the passenger side. Jack took all of five seconds to finish assembling her new toy, while Gwen asked, "What's that?"

"CB radio." Jack answered, "They knocked out the phones, but they can't knock out the radio waves." she shot a mildly accusatory look over her shoulder at Beth, "Not yet, anyway." implying quite clearly that the Sleepers would develop that sort of technology at some point.

Jack quickly turned the radio over in her hands, checking it was all set before proceeding to tape it up to the rear-view mirror, so she could use it hands-free. Then she activated it, "Tosh, Owen, Ianto, can you hear me?" she called, tossing a roll of what looked like duct tape into the back-seat, no longer needed apparently.

She paused for a second, waiting for a reply, and was rewarded by Tosh's voice, "Jack! Thank God. What happened?"

"There's a cell, it's active." Jack reported, starting up the SUV as she spoke, "Four including Beth, two are dead. We're tracking the last guy now. If we can get to him before he does anything, we can still stop this."

"What can we do?" Tosh asked.

"He's heading for an abandoned farm just outside the city. We need to know what's out there." Jack commanded. Gwen subconsciously braced herself, as Jack pulled out into traffic. It wasn't that Jack was a reckless driver... honestly. It was just scary to be in the passenger seat, sometimes.

Gwen had once witnessed him circle a new car they'd acquired- blue convertible, very flashy, for trying to look like civilians, they rarely used it- test the tires, bounce on the sides to check the suspension, closely examine the engine, and then jump in the driver's seat. He had then proceeded to pull a wheelie up the full length of the underground Torchwood car park, and then zoomed around at what looked to Gwen like seventy MPH, and at one point he had actually been driving with two wheels on a wall!

It had ended with a very tight circle around the SUV at great speed, and he had only avoided knocking the wing-mirror off of Owen's car because he had managed to tip the convertible up to the side, onto two wheels, at the sharp turn... and Jack had moved his head to dodge the wing-mirror in question. The vehicle finally came to a skidding stop with the passenger side door right next to Gwen, close enough for her to reach out and open it. Then he had the nerve to ask, grinning brightly, "Want to go for a ride?"

There hadn't been a scratch on any surface, the paintwork on the convertible had still been immaculate and spotless, the wheelie had been perfectly calculated not to scrape the rear bumper, and even where the vehicle had skidded across the ground, it had left no noticeable tire-marks. That had proved to her, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Jack Harkness really knew how to drive.

Didn't change the fact that driving far too fast out into the country, treating the lanes like a slalom course as they weaved in and out of the other cars, racing to catch up to the Sleeper agent, was bloody terrifying. Even if she did trust the driver.

She could hear Tosh and Owen talking on the other end of the radio, but not clearly enough to make out the words.

"He's nearly there, we need to hurry." Beth observed, fearfully. What did she think _this _ was? Sunday driving with grandma?

"Yeah." Jack said, deadpan, "We are hurrying, thanks."

Gwen glanced at the speedometer... they were doing 85, now, on a narrow country lane. Good thing there wasn't any other traffic to be seen out here. "What happens when it starts, Beth?" she asked, turning to face the alien in the back seat, rather than watching Jack's driving.

"How do you get in the heavy weapons?" Jack added, not sparing the slightest glance for Beth, eyes forward as she concentrated on what she was doing.

"I don't know." Beth said, tensely, "Um, I think we just have this arm stuff."

"So, how do you manage to take over so quickly?" Gwen asked, focusing her eyes entirely on Beth's face. Jack's driving may be brilliant, but it was not for the faint of heart... Gwen had a strong stomach, you needed it for Torchwood, but no one had told her this was part of the deal when she had signed up.

"I don't know." Beth said, shaking her head, "I didn't even know how to use this thing until today."

The mutterings over the radio continued, over the next few minutes, until Tosh could be heard to clearly exclaim, "Oh God."

"What is it?" Jack asked, still not looking away from the road before her.

"The mineshaft." Tosh said, and Gwen could hear the horror in her voice, "The military are using it for storage. Nuclear warheads. Ten of them. Nobody's supposed to know, not even us."

"That's how it starts." Gwen said, awed and suitably subdued as the impending doom settled at those words.

"No heavy weapons." Jack grumbled, scowling darkly. She obviously understood.

"Exactly!" Gwen declared, horrified, "They don't need any! They use our own against us."

Jack shook her head, "We left the key under the doormat. All you need is to walk in and take over."

"Please tell me you can stop this." Tosh called over the radio.

"Going as fast as we can." Jack assured her, with a very deep scowl, "If we don't, we won't feel a thing. We're at the centre of the blast radius."

"That's comforting." Tosh muttered, clearly close enough to the radio to be audible.

Jack glanced very briefly at the radio, then laughed and crowed cheerfully, "Come on! Apocalypses are my specialty! When have I ever let you down before?"

The radio contact clicked off, and Jack's face fell in an instant, she pushed down on the accelerator even harder. The sooner they got there, the better.

x x x

The journey continued in tense silence, as they followed the directions that Beth had given them. Jack had done a lot of things that took far too long, enough to seem interminable, but this was by far the most infuriating. The planet was at stake, and they were stuck on some country road on their way to try to stop it, and at this rate it really did feel that they were going to be late for the party.

The first visible sign that they were on the right track was when they drove through an already broken security barrier. She could feel it when Gwen tensed, as they saw this, but didn't spare her a glance. Focused on the goal. Jack still had no idea how they were supposed to stop this, and they wouldn't know until they got there.

Finally, the building they had been headed for came into view... and with it the carnage of a recent- very one-sided- battle. Soldiers, who had the poor luck of being assigned a supposedly boring and easy job of guarding a place that didn't exist from any imaginary people who might decide to think otherwise, lay dead on the ground in pools of their own blood.

Jack tried not to look at them, as she drove past, spotting the only man still standing. Civilian clothing, blood all over him, and that blank determined expression that no civilian can actually honestly pull off. There was no doubt whatsoever that this was the other Sleeper.

"Have we thought this part of the plan through?" Gwen asked nervously, when she also spotted him.

"This isn't gonna be pretty." Jack warned, "Brace yourselves."

"How are we going to stop him, Jack?" Gwen demanded, raising her voice as they rounded the corner in the road, heading right for the Sleeper.

"Like this." Jack said, gritting her teeth and pushing down on the accelerator just as they came up behind the Sleeper, so the SUV rammed right into him. Hard.

She hit the brakes the second she felt the rear-wheels run over the Sleeper's legs, and they all leapt out of the SUV. She caught him- still moving, determinedly trying to reach his goal in spite of her assault- and turned him over, pinning him down and pointing her gun at his face.

"This wasn't meant to happen today." she growled, "How do we stop it?"

He didn't answer, just lay still with that blank expression. Waiting for a moment of weakness. She was aware of Gwen, producing the scanner they had used to disconnect and weaken Kayehla. But it was taking too long.

"Gwen?" she asked, at first only looking at what she was doing in her peripheral vision, but then, "Gwen!" this time an order to hurry up, and her eyes darted briefly in Gwen's direction.

This must have been the weakness he had waited for, she saw the implant-weapon grow from his arm, but as long as he was shielded she couldn't stop it. She yelled in pain, realising only after it had happened that his arm had moved, and the blade had impaled her, stabbed into the left side of her chest.

She looked down at the wound, only slightly stunned, silent for a second (or an eternity?). But then she laughed, leaning forward onto the organic hilt of the weapon where his hand might still have been. Pushed his arm down until his elbow was on the ground, so that there was no chance of him pulling the blade back. It had only just missed her heart.

The Sleeper must have interpreted the way she all-but fell against him as weakness. Her laughter possibly as hysterical... for all she could tell right now, maybe it was. "Ooh! Doesn't matter." he taunted, "You can't stop us. We know what your weakness is. We know who you are, Jack Harkness. We know all about you, and Torchwood. We got a lot of information before you switched her off. You'll be factored into our plans."

Jack groaned once more, raising her eyes from the weapon to meet his. Her hair fell forward into her face, and she was injured in a way that would kill most people within a few minutes, but she still managed to pull off the threatening and ominous look, as she grinned coldly at him, "Little to the right next time." she choked. He frowned slightly, and she laughed again. This time there was no way that it could be interpreted as hysterical, it was mocking and dangerous, "And what you know about me doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. You do not want to fuck with my planet."

He didn't look intimidated. Too bad for him... if he'd shown fear, she'd have played on it in the hope of scaring them all off this world. But now he had to die.

Gwen's scanner buzzed in a different pitch, and she announced, "I've got it. He's done."

Jack grit her teeth, and stood, carefully backing away from him at just the right angle, so that the blade didn't do more damage than it already had. Seriously, little to the right, and it would have been fatal. She took two quick- if slightly shaky- steps back from him, gun aimed at his head, watching as he turned his arm over, trying to use the implant for non-fatal purposes.

"Don't bother, your transmitter's dead." she told him, smirking at his confusion, "And so's your force-field."

"You're lying." the Sleeper denied, glowering up at her.

"Oh yeah?" Jack asked, lowering her gun just enough to target his chest instead of his head- aiming quite deliberately to hit him in the same place that he had stabbed her- and firing. He jolted from the impact, but didn't voice any pain. He looked... mildly puzzled... as he began to cough up blood.

"Factor that into your plans." Jack said coldly, refusing to feel pity as the Sleeper began to choke on his own blood. It was only due to years of practice, that Jack was carefully swallowing what blood she was bringing up with every breath. "Now, when are the others coming?"

The Sleeper's eyes seemed to light up at that question, and his answer, "They're already here." chilled Jack's blood to hear it. He could be bluffing, but how would they ever know? He chuckled weakly, turning his non-weaponised hand for them all to see the organic detonator he held there, "I won't let you take me." he said defiantly. And the detonator began to beep.

Jack's eyes widened, and she quickly turned away from him, shouting to the others, "Run!"

Neither of them was foolish enough to hesitate at the order, and they all fled the area, to the sound of the Sleeper's laughter. They had gone more than far enough by the time the explosion went off, and Jack turned to look back at it, frowning. Already here? Not good. Very not good.

"Jack, are you okay?" Gwen asked, quickly hurrying over to look at her wound.

Jack grinned darkly, "Anyone else would bleed to death from this... but it takes a lot more persistent and deliberate effort to kill me that way." she said. Her tone was dismissive, but her mind drifted back to the time when the Master had spent almost a week straight trying to bleed Jack dry, without killing him in any other way first.

x x x

"Alright! No more mortal peril for you!" Owen yelled, the second he got Jack alone in the medical bay. He had just finished checking on Beth, and Gwen had gone to talk to her about it. "What the bloody hell were you thinking? Going after the Sleeper like that, when you knew what their weapons could do? You could have got yourself killed. _Again!_"

"But I didn't." Jack pointed out, taking on her usual authoritative stance. The fact that there was a bloodied cut through her shirt somehow failed to argue in Owen's favour at all, here. It was quite clear to Owen that Jack was a bit shaken by the incident, but she was refusing to admit it. "If I hadn't gone after him, we'd all be dead, now." she pointed out coolly. This was also was true, and they both knew it. "And no one else would have survived that wound, at all. My improved healing countered the worst of it."

Owen was aware of a few times before, when Jack had been injured badly enough that a normal person _would _ have bled to death, but his immortality- whether you called it a gift or a curse- had healed him and replenished his blood quickly enough to allow him to survive it. Aside from pronouns, this case had been no different.

Owen could feel his tirade slipping away before he had a chance to really get going. "I could call our government supervisors, give them my medical opinion, and get you pulled from active duty." he threatened, trying to regain control of the argument.

"As if that would stop me trying to save the planet." Jack pointed out coldly. But then she sighed, "Look, I'll be careful. I promise."

"That's what you said, before." Owen said, suddenly feeling so very tired.

"I won't let you freeze me!" Beth's voice yelled, echoing through the Hub. Jack was up the stairs and heading into the main room a good two seconds before Owen had reacted at all. He rolled his eyes, seriously considering voicing the demand of 'What did I _just _ say about mortal peril?' but thinking better of it.

When he got out onto the floor, and followed Jack's gaze- or the aim of her gun, take your pick- he saw Beth up on the catwalk, holding that alien blade thing to Gwen's neck. Owen immediately drew his own gun and took aim at Beth, himself.

"I'll kill you all!" Beth yelled.

"Let her go!" Owen shouted, "Let her go!"

"No!" Gwen cried, not sounding at all like she believed herself to be in any danger, "No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, don't shoot! It's a trick. She won't hurt me. She won't hurt me."

"Move away from her now!" Tosh ordered, and Owen glanced around to see that she and Ianto both had guns drawn on Beth, as well. Girl would be well and truly dead if she did anything to make one of the four of them jump, right now. And boy, was she trying.

"Everybody, calm down!" Jack commanded, loudly, "Beth..." she said, trying to sound calming, "Beth, you don't want to do this. Let Gwen go."

Beth's voice shook as she replied to that, "I'll kill her first! Then- then all of you! Then the rest of your miserable species!" Owen saw the trick for what Gwen had said it was, too, now. He was sure Jack saw it as well, and the others may be keeping quiet and following Jack's lead but they'd still be blind if they didn't see it. But the Sleepers had shown no sign of hesitation or fear, and Beth was showing more than enough of both, right now.

"Beth, please!" Gwen might have worded it as begging, but the force in her voice made it closer to a command, "They will kill you. You have proved to be better than that. You helped us to stop the invasion. You can be human. Please, Beth!"

Owen's eyes narrowed, as Beth shook her head. He took more careful aim, as Beth said something very quietly to Gwen... and then the Sleeper drew her blade back, and all four of them fired on her, every shot struck its target, propelling her backwards and away from Gwen, until she fell onto the catwalk, immobile.

Owen and Jack both ran up to where Beth had fallen, to check whether she had survived or not. "She wanted you to shoot her!" Gwen yelled, accusingly. As if they hadn't known. "She used her last shred of humanity to do this."

Owen glanced up at Jack, and back down to Beth's body. "We couldn't take that chance. She must have known that." He didn't voice his true thoughts. So many people would rather die than risk losing themselves. The number of cases where people with mental disorders wanted to be allowed to die but the law denied them. This was far worse than any of those, and Owen did not begrudge Beth her choice.

"She did." Jack agreed, lowering her gun. Clearly she felt the same way about it. Beth had wanted to be put out of the misery of losing her mind, or put down like the dangerous creature she would become if the Sleeper had taken her over. Whichever way you looked at it. "She just wanted to make it easier for us."

x x x

Gwen had spoken to Jack about the Sleepers. Asked the unanswerable questions, and expressed her feelings on the matter. It was Gwen's way of finding closure, to talk to someone.

Tosh had found silent solace in her computers, rather than asking questions she knew couldn't be answered. She worked on upgrading the systems with fail-safes against EMP fields, and new sensors that were capable of detecting Sleeper agents if they came within a certain radius of the Hub's rift-controls.

Owen already seemed to understand all he wanted to, and had simply gone about the unpleasant process of Beth's autopsy- making detailed notes on her implant and weapons systems, especially- without showing any need for support. Maybe he would get drunk later... it was difficult to tell, with Owen.

Now, Ianto entered Jack's office, practically silently. If Jack hadn't been so alert, still on-edge from the day's events, she might not have noticed him right away. As it was, she pretended not to have heard him, until he was standing right in front of her and cleared his throat to draw her attention.

She looked up and he spoke, his tone quite dark, but still somehow morbidly amused, "If you ask my out on another date, I will kill you." This was Ianto's way of coping, sarcasm and dark humour... and the others wouldn't want to deal with it in their current state, they both knew that.

Jack smiled faintly, setting down the Sleeper-blade she had been examining, "Well, that's good to know. I didn't exactly enjoy the way that evening went, either." she answered.

Ianto's lip twitched slightly, "Not to say that I don't enjoy your company, of course."

"Making plans in advance like that... it really was begging for trouble, wasn't it?" Jack asked, smirking faintly.

"I told the others I was going home for the night." Ianto observed, far too innocently.

Jack's eyes lit up, at that, "And I'm sure no one will want to disturb the boss's ominous brooding about near-death experiences."

"Not for a few hours, at least."

And as he said that she stood and quickly circled her desk to where he stood. She caught the back of his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. Passionate and hungry... desperate to feel alive again, after all that had happened. And he returned that kiss enthusiastically, as she guided him towards her bedroom.

This was how Jack dealt with the pain.

x x x


	7. Have You Ever Eaten Alien Meat?

**Author's Note**: '_To the Last Man_' was a great big non-event. Sure, it was a good episode, but it had absolutely no long-term plot-relevance. It was a fun day out for Tosh that ended with some guy we never saw before getting killed. Poor Toshie. Sure, it happened in this fic, but I really don't feel the need to write about it. Seriously, what would I say? "Jack sat on her arse in the Hub while Tosh went out on a date. The guy went back time and died. End chapter."

x x x

**Chapter 7: Have You Ever Eaten Alien Meat?**

x x x

Ianto knew Jack was in her office, again. Hiding.

It had been another very close call, this morning, when what she referred to as a Trallian Bugbear had landed in the middle of the plaza and started attacking things left right and centre. She had known how to fight and kill this creature- which was apparently a very large and very vicious animal, of the non-sentient variety, from somewhere at the other end of this galaxy- but had nearly been mauled as she attempted to get close enough to do so. He knew her near death had scared her, though he wasn't sure why. Never seemed to bother Jack much before.

Owen had pitched a fit and yelled at her for an hour... she had yelled back, but unusually, Owen had not backed down from the argument. Ianto had been unable to make out any of the words, and remained in the dark as to what it had been about. And, again with Owen knowing something that Ianto didn't! There was something fundamentally wrong with a universe that allowed that to happen.

He _was _ surprised at the fact that she had managed _not _ to die, since John Hart had visited, but he wasn't going to say anything. That could jinx it, and he liked it when Jack didn't die every other week. Every death was terrifying, as if it might be the last, final death, and he liked that she was being more careful, now. He idly wondered if it was a side-effect of being turned into a woman... there was a statistical correlation in the Torchwood death records, which held far more male names than female, in spite of being an equal opportunity employer since its founding in 1879.

There was no filing to do, and everyone already had coffee, so Ianto decided to check up on Jack, quickly making his way to her office and opening the door without knocking. He was quite startled by what he saw there.

A small and unidentified coral-like object was in the middle of her desk, glowing, and she was watching it with a frown of concentration and one hand hovering very close to it. As if she was _making _ it glow like that. She looked up at him, suddenly pulling her hand back as if caught in the middle of something private. As soon as she did this, the glowing stopped.

Then a second later she forced a smile, "Hey Ianto!" she cheered brightly, picking up the object and trying to hide it in a drawer under her desk.

"What was that?" Ianto asked.

"Nothing. Just... an experiment." she said, evasively.

"Liar." Ianto said casually, not really caring what it was, as long as it was harmless. He assumed if Jack was in the least bit suspicious of it, she'd not be keeping it a secret. Would she?

Jack laughed, "It's perfectly safe, I promise." she said, as if reading his mind. That was a little bit creepy, actually. "Mild empathy, not telepathy." Jack said, watching him carefully, "I can't hear what you're thinking, but I know what you feel."

Ianto blinked at her in surprise, fighting the instinct to blush, "Have you always had that ability?" He remembered in horror the number of times he had lusted after Jack, both before and after they had got together. A faint, knowing smile crossed her face when he considered this, causing him to lose the battle against showing his embarrassment.

"No, I only discovered it recently. I think it's a side-effect..." but then she frowned, not finishing that sentence.

Ianto raised an eyebrow, "Of what? An attack? An odd piece of clothing? A bad curry?" he was smiling slightly now.

Jack laughed at that, "Technically, I suppose the word 'attack' could be part of it. Depending on how much detail you wanted to consider." she said, her tone teasing, inviting Ianto to guess, rather than just telling him. She watched him expectantly, waiting for him to ask another question or suggest a theory.

Ianto frowned, as his mind wandered in the direction of things Jack was likely to do, "Sex?" But then he remembered that she had said the word 'attack', and he mentally cringed as he asked, "Rape?"

"And people say I have a one-track mind." Jack said, staring at him with some degree of shock, "Besides, there's a very popular theory that it's impossible to rape me."

"Oh, thank god!" he exclaimed, relieved. Although he couldn't help the flicker of jealousy that quickly followed that relief. Very popular theory, huh? Ianto got the impression this wasn't just because Jack could defend him/herself, so much as the fact that, in order to be raped one would need to be unwilling. He pointedly avoided thinking about this, instead considering the puzzle of Jack's new empathic abilities thoughtfully. "Did you pick it up when you were with that Doctor?"

"Yes." Jack answered with a curt nod. That was all the answer he would get for that question. At least it narrowed things down to... oh, all of time and space.

"Did it hurt, getting the telepathy? Or was it just awakened?" Ianto asked curiously.

"The telepathy developed over time, and doesn't hurt." Jack said. She was being only slightly evasive, here, but he knew she wasn't lying, "The cause itself... a part of that hurt... again, depending on how you look at it."

Ianto nodded, a little confused, "That's interesting, I didn't know this was possible..." he admitted. Ianto knew this Doctor wasn't human from his Torchwood One days, but to be able to give someone telepathic abilities... that was something entirely new.

"A lot of sentient beings have telepathic potential, including humans." Jack said, watching his reaction very carefully, as she tried to see whether he was getting closer to the truth or not.

Ianto nodded thoughtfully. "So it was just awakened more?" he asked, not entirely certain where he should go with this, "But even then... is it because you're female now?" Jack nodded in answer to that. "And you said before that the alien device that did this felt like drowning in acid..." he added, receiving another nod this time accompanied by a faint smile which seemed to indicate he was on the right track. He tried not to think about the fact that she had implied she knew exactly what drowning in acid felt like. So that was the pain she had referred to, he guessed, "Did you choose to be turned into a woman?" She shook her head, "Does that count as the 'attack', then?" Another nod.

He was very pleased that she was sharing this with him... but the guarded expression on her face told him that there was something else she wasn't saying. She met his eyes now, and Ianto got the feeling she had just read his mind again... no, been aware of how he felt, that was it.

She looked like she was debating whether or not to say something, turning her gaze away from him again, with uncertainty. He wouldn't push her, but he was rather curious, he concentrated on his feelings of affection and acceptance. He hoped she could feel it.

She raised an eyebrow at him, with a bemused smile, "Manipulative little bastard, you are." she observed.

He grinned slightly, "Yes, but an accepting one."

She laughed at that, but when she met his eyes again, she sobered up very quickly, "Promise?"

He nodded seriously, "Yes, I promise."

"This ability is not entirely of human origin. In fact, I'm sure it's all the alien's fault." she said with a perfectly straight face, although as she blamed the alien in question there was a spark of amusement in her eyes.

Ianto nodded, rather confused as to why she was so unsure about telling him, "Okay..." He had a feeling there was more as he turned the words over in his head. Jack hesitated again, closing her eyes and opening and closing her mouth a couple of times, but no sound came out.

Ianto waited patiently for her to continue, and finally, after a couple of false starts, and then holding her breath for almost an entire minute, she blurted out the words, "I'm pregnant." The instant she said it, her hands flew up over her mouth and she stared up at him with wide eyes, clearly frightened of how he might react to this.

Ianto gasped, staring at her in utter shock for several seconds, before he managed to get control of himself... though apparently not of his voice, as he stammered for a few seconds, before finally managing to ask, "Who's is it?" In spite of their current relationship, he really doubted it was his... she had said there was an alien involved, after all.

She flinched noticeably at that question, and shook her head. She didn't want to talk about it? Or she just didn't want him to know who? Was it someone he already knew? God, he hoped it wasn't John Hart's!

He coughed, regaining control of his speech, and instead asked, "How long?"

She mumbled, barely audibly, "About four months, now." her eyes darted up to his face, trying to gauge his reaction.

"O-okay..." He did the mental calculation, and realised that would place it during the time that Jack was away... with the Doctor. Before he could stop himself, he blurted out the question, "Is it the Doctor's?"

"No!" she denied immediately and, it seemed, honestly.

He nodded shakily before forcing a smile, he did feel jealous and rather hurt... but in spite of that, as long as she was happy, he was happy for her, "Well... congratulations."

Jack sighed, seeming to accept this as a significantly less offended reaction than she had anticipated, and now she dared to face him properly again. For being virtually fearless when it comes to fighting alien monsters- even in her condition she had fought that ten-foot-tall mass of teeth and claws they had encountered this morning!- she had been downright terrified of how Ianto could have reacted to this revelation.

"You are happy... right?" he asked her. She laughed nervously, nodding by way of an answer. "Did, uh, did you have fun..?" he felt awkward asking, and jealousy roared through his veins like an almost tangible thing, but he had to know.

She frowned, looking away from him again, and it took her a few seconds to speak, "I'd not do it again, if that's what you mean."

Whether she meant sex with someone else at all, or just that particular alien- sex with an alien! that really did creep him out quite a bit- it wasn't clear. Ianto relaxed a little bit... he wanted to ask her more, but he didn't want to upset her.

When she noticed him relaxing- and either she had heard him exhale a bit louder, or sensed his emotions, because she hadn't looked at him- she spoke again, "It was a new experience... a species I'd never, ah, encountered in that way, before. I was curious. That's all."

"Okay, okay..." his jealously calmed somewhat. "You're not showing at all? That normal?"

"For his species... perfectly." Jack said, with a short nod, still not turning to face Ianto, "Since I'm human, the odds were against it."

"Oh, right." Ianto said, still a little uncomfortable with this, so he tried to change the direction of the conversation, if only a little, "Gwen and Tosh would probably be jealous then... if- when- you tell them."

"Oh, please don't tell them!" Jack pleaded, turning to face Ianto now, "With you, I was afraid you'd resent me for it. With them, I'm bloody terrified that they'll go all... brooding and... motherly." she shuddered at the thought.

Ianto blinked in surprise at the sheer horror in her voice, "Your going to have to tell them sometime." he pointed out, "But I won't tell."

Jack sighed in relief, "Thank you!" she exclaimed. And now it was clear that her dramatic behaviour was just a bit over the top... there was real fear of how the girls might behave, but for the most part she was exaggerating.

Ianto rolled his eyes at her in amusement. "You do plan to tell them before you give birth... don't you?" he suddenly sounded worried.

"Do I have to?" she asked, "They really never need to know."

"I think they'll notice, when you have a baby living with you!" he pointed out, rather bluntly.

"The odds are that the father's going to want to take it." Jack muttered, leaning back in her chair, almost sulking at that prospect, "I'm not sure a human could handle a-" but she stopped herself from identifying the species, once again averting her eyes from Ianto.

Ianto's eyes widened at her, "A what? I mean... surely the child would look mostly human, if you're the mother..?" he asked, confused.

Jack laughed, "It'll look all human. He can pass for human, so yes... the child will definitely look human."

"Oh... but then why can't you keep it?" Ianto asked.

"I'm almost two centuries old, I've had mental training from both the Time Agency and Torchwood, and I can barely process the emerging telepathic abilities I'm sharing with this child before it's even born." Jack said, her tone blunt as she stated the facts... but behind that was some resentment that she wouldn't be able to be a part of her child's life, "It's only been four months! Can you imagine being in the same room as- let alone trying to raise- a child that can read your thoughts word-for-word before it's a year old? It would need to be trained by someone who knew what they were doing. And perhaps most importantly, can actually shield their mind against untrained telepaths."

Ianto blinked, staring at her with shock, "That's... y-yes, you're right."

Jack bowed her head, and once again looked quite resentful of the fact she wouldn't be able to raise her own child, "He's promised I can become a part of the child's life, once it's old enough to know better than to look at my mind."

"What about now?" Ianto asked, frowning, "Can't it-?"

"No." Jack interrupted, suddenly looking amused. She could obviously sense that Ianto was thinking- and trying very hard not to think- about the sort of emotions that he felt for Jack, "It'll be a few months after its born before it develops the ability to read thoughts for itself... and even before then, its perception of emotion is vague. The only reason I can sense these things, myself, is because my brain is fully developed."

"So it's okay to think about...?"

"And to do, for that matter." Jack finished, grinning up at him, with a suggestive tone in her voice.

Ianto stammered for a second, before asking, "But- isn't that- I mean-" that was about as coherent as his question got, but Jack seemed to know what he meant in spite of that.

"Sex during pregnancy is perfectly healthy." Jack said, her tone perfectly serious, in spite of the fact that she was obviously still flirting with him, "In fact, it can have a positive influence."

"Oh yeah?" Ianto asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah... all those chemicals the body released after climax, the calming and relaxing effects... and in this case the positive emotions as well, feeling of contentment... definitely a good thing."

Ianto rolled his eyes, and laughed, "Alright, if I say you've convinced me, can we consider doing that later, instead of now?"

"I'll hold you to that." Jack said, grinning at him, that charming smile that made him want her, right here, right now. And if his commlink hadn't beeped at that exact moment, then that was precisely what would have happened, in spite of what he had just said.

"Hey, guys. Rift spike." Tosh's voice informed them.

"Love your timing, Tosh." Jack answered her, laughing.

Ianto let out a breath, trying to regain some semblance of composure... and very briefly envying Jack for the fact that her body didn't show visible signs of arousal. But then a very annoying- and completely unrelated- thought hit him, which at least was unappealing enough to deal with that problem in the process, "Owen knows doesn't he?"

"How'd you know?" Jack asked, bemused.

"It's been four months, and he hasn't made a single joke about PMS." Ianto deadpanned, darkly, "That and he's been yelling at you about nearly getting killed about six times as often as before."

Jack laughed, nodding in agreement, "I think it was somewhere between 'they're not silicon' and 'no medical scans'." she said, trying to make it sound flippant, but not quite succeeding, "Didn't help that he caught me using the scanner, without his supervision."

"Damn... well, at least I know before the others. Owen's still never going to let me forget this." Ianto joked feebly.

"We could retcon him." she suggested, her now too-bright tone indicating that this, too, was a joke.

Ianto tilted his head thoughtfully, "Hmm..."

"Ianto!" she snapped, laughing in spite of her mock-outrage, and playfully swatting at his arm as she passed him, heading for the door. He laughed with her, relieved that the awkwardness had gone now.

x x x

Rhys Williams loved his job. He was manager of Harwood's Haulage, one of the best companies in the business. He had a desk, a secretary, and he got to delegate. Who wouldn't love a job like that? It didn't matter that it was raining. It didn't even matter that it was a Monday, he loved his job so why should that bother him?

He was on his way to work, right now, listening to the radio for the newest jingle. He'd written it, and it was supposed to be aired this morning during the drive-to-work time.

And just as he wondered about it, the intro began to play. He turned the radio up, grinning like a loon and not caring if anyone else saw as they drove past, "_Who can you trust? Who can you trust to transport your cars?_" Rhys cheerfully sang along at the top of his voice, as the jingle continued, "_Harwood's! You won't be sorry with a Harwood's lorry!_"

Rhys laughed, happily, turning the volume down as the radio went on to report the weather. Oh yeah, this was going to be a good day, he could just feel it. Nothing could spoil his mood now.

As soon as he thought that, the phone rang.

Very carefully, being a good, professional driver- certified to drive his own company's lorries, and all- he pulled over to the side of the road, before picking it up- caller-ID said it was his secretary- and answering, "Yeah, Ruth!" he cheered, still chuckling at the fact that his jingle had been on the radio, "Did you hear it? I wrote the last bit."

But then she spoke, "I'm sorry, Mr Williams, but there's been an accident."

That killed his good-humour, "What sort of accident?" Rhys asked, worried.

"Reynolds' lorry was involved in a major crash." she said, her tone worried and sombre, "You know the first motorway intersection out from our main depot?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know it." Rhys said, frowning.

"Just up there, a collision with a couple of cars. Police said one of them was talking on their mobile phone while driving, and swerved in front of-"

"Yeah." Rhys interrupted, his frown deepening at that thought, "I'll get over there now." Still scowling, he hung up the phone, giving it an accusatory glare, before tossing it onto the passenger seat and indicating to pull out into traffic again. Bloody morons not looking where they're driving. The world would be a much safer place if people just paid attention.

x x x

He got to the accident site pretty quick. It hadn't been far from where he had been when Ruth had called him. He pulled up out of the way of traffic, right next to the police cordon, and quickly got out of his car. He did his best to look like he belonged there as he approached the nearest man in uniform. Really he did have every right to be here, but sometimes it's difficult to look it in the face of higher authority, like the police.

"Stay back, please." the policeman told him, pulling that air of authority out of whatever orifice they found it in, making Rhys hesitate and his confidence waver, "You're going to have to move your car."

"Yeah, I'm Rhys Williams, I'm the manager of Harwood's Haulage." in spite of his best efforts, it still sounded like a question. Like he was asking if he was even allowed to be here, when he knew damned well that he should be here.

"Now, you can check on the vehicle later." the policeman said, determined to keep Rhys out.

Rhys' eyes wandered to the jack-knifed lorry and the upside-down car. He idly hoped that it was the one who'd been on his phone that got turned over, and not the other- theoretically innocent- driver. But then he frowned, wondering if anyone had been badly hurt. He had to make sure that his friend was okay.

"Bollocks to that, mate." Rhys said, his confidence returning as he resolved himself to finding out if his friend had been hurt, "I know the driver. Is he-" but he stopped short, seeing a body on a trolley, with paramedics lurking around. His hand moved automatically to point at this, and the policeman turned to look as well.

"Didn't make it. Sorry." he said, sounding too businesslike for Rhys' liking. Impersonal. Rhys stared at the familiar face, totally dumbstruck, as a paramedic covered it up. "Can you give me some details, sir?"

It took a second for the question to sink in, and then Rhys answered, distractedly, "It's Leighton." he couldn't believe that his friend was... dead. He shook his head slightly, focusing on the question asked, and this time making sense as he answered it, "Uh... Leighton Reynolds."

"Next of kin?" the policeman asked, still too businesslike, as Rhys watched the paramedics taking Leighton's body away.

"Yeah, he's got a- a wife. Jen." Rhys said, suddenly feeling so very depressed as he added distantly, "Just had a baby."

"Do you know the address?"

"Uh, yeah, uh, fifty-four Keppoch Street, Roath." he was staring off into the distance, towards the wreck in the middle of the road, "Gave him a lift to football." he added distractedly. Couldn't really be dead... that just wasn't fair.

"Thank you, sir." the policeman said, still not acting like he cared.

Rhys watched the ambulance take the body away, and somehow the distance from that tragedy brought back a trace of rational thought. He turned back to the policeman, "Right, um..." he rubbed the back of his neck, agitated, "I'm going to need to arrange to move the lorry."

"Not yet." the policeman said, shaking his head, "There's something suspicious in the back."

Rhys scowled, "It's just meat." he said, knowing it sounded defensive, but it was _his _ company that they'd just called 'suspicious', "Leighton was taking it to the abattoir."

"Yeah, well, whatever." Oh yeah, 'whatever'... a man just _died_, you're as good as accusing him- and me- of something 'suspicious', and you just say 'whatever'. "Torchwood want a look at it first."

Who the bloody hell are Torchwood, anyway? Rhys turned to look at the scene of the crash, as a big black SUV pulled up next to it.

The woman who stepped out first, from the driver's seat, was positively stunning. Her hair was short, but that didn't make her any less of a looker. Graceful and confident, with an air like she owned the place, she strode over to the lorry without bothering to consult the police around the scene.

Right behind her, another woman emerged from the SUV, a second later. Her back was to him at first, as she spoke to someone else in the vehicle, but when she turned around Rhys was totally stunned. He literally forgot to breathe, when he saw his fiancee, Gwen, was part of this group. She followed the other woman, making a good attempt to impersonate her air of confidence, but not quite reaching it.

Two others got out of the SUV, now. Two men, one was taller, and scanned the area in a very calculating way, before following the others. Something about him was reserved and deliberate, but Rhys wasn't sure how he got that impression from the complete lack of expression there.

The slightly shorter man looked around much more furtively, carrying a bag almost possessively, and visibly muttering under his breath. He gave off an air of sulking, as if he'd rather not be here.

Rhys scowled at the lorry that the group had disappeared into. Why was Gwen with these people? And looking like she belonged there, and all. He knew her promotion last year had been to some sort of special ops, but he hadn't been allowed to know details. Classified like nobody's business. He'd tried asking, when she'd come home looking like she was upset, but she'd never told him anything about what she actually did.

He saw Gwen quickly emerge from the lorry, frowning and approaching the nearest policeman, talking to him... giving out the orders, even! Rhys couldn't hear what she was saying- and boy did he wish he knew how to read lips, would come in handy right about now- but the policeman was nodding at her instructions.

Meanwhile, the other woman appeared, talking to the taller of the two men. It was all business, as if the driver's death hadn't been relevant at all. He saw the way she leaned towards that man, just a bit more than friendly co-workers, there, he reckoned.

Rhys felt some sense of relief, in spite of his irritation. That confident young man working around Gwen all the time, he'd have been worried if he hadn't seen the way he smiled back at the other woman there. Gwen was walking past them, now, as the man spoke. Something he said startled her, and she turned to join the conversation.

The way they both looked at her, she'd said something very relevant. Rhys scowled, wishing again that he knew how to read lips, as the woman turned her full attention on Gwen. It almost looked like an interrogation as much as a debate. Gwen held her own, talking right back to her, and Rhys couldn't help but feel proud of his girl.

Then the shorter man finally emerged from the lorry, zipping up that bag he'd carried. He'd taken something from the lorry, probably some of the meat. His words seemed final, and they all turned to leave. Gwen held up the police tape for the shorter man, and Rhys scowled at that... but then quickly returned to his car, as well. All set to follow these people who his Gwen was working with. This... Torchwood.

He started the car, as the SUV pulled off, heading back down the road. Rhys pulled away, ready to follow them, but then the policeman he'd talked to earlier stopped him, "Sorry, sir, you can't come this way now."

He watched as the SUV drove off, and disappeared around a corner. Gone. Damnit!

x x x

Ianto watched Jack carefully. It had been a week, now, since she had admitted the truth to him, that she was pregnant. He was still unsure how he should react to it, but for now he would try not to act any differently. Right now, she was listening as Owen gave a report on the alien meat... and therefore, Ianto listened as well.

"Any idea what it is?" Jack asked, after the initial medical jargon was dispensed with. She was watching with some visible distaste, while Owen worked.

"Have to scan it." Owen said dismissively, "But whoever's farming this meat knows it's dodgy." he stopped in his hurried work, to pick up a label and show it to them, "You see this? Official vet stamp, 'Fit for human consumption'. It's fake. It's good, but it's fake."

Ianto scowled, "_Is _ it fit for human consumption, then?"

"Have to scan it." Owen repeated bluntly. Ianto frowned at that. This meat had clearly been on its way to be processed and sold as food. Ianto decided it was time to become a vegetarian, at least temporarily. He would convince Jack of the same... one way or another.

She was leaving the autopsy room, now, walking past Ianto and Gwen without a second glance, barking out an order, "Tosh, get on to the haulage firm. Find out where that meat is from and where it's heading." Business as usual, then. Ianto quickly and unobtrusively made his way over to the coffee machine, while Tosh obeyed Jack's instruction.

He only just heard Gwen asking, "Why does it have to be Rhys's firm? It's a bit too close to home." He couldn't help but feel sorry for her, that the one she loved had to be caught on the wrong side of this. He did hope that Rhys was innocent... didn't want to think what might happen otherwise.

"You want to stand down?" Jack's voice carried to Ianto's ears in the same way as someone saying your name stands out in a crowd... even if it's too quiet to normally hear, he'd pick it up.

And Gwen's answer was loud enough to be heard easily enough, anyway, "No! I want to find out what's going on."

He brought over a couple of coffee mugs, offering one to Gwen. The way he handed it to her should be interpreted as a sign of consolidation, more than he would express with words any day, and they all knew it. She nodded to him, "Thank you, Ianto." He nodded back, and then looked around as Tosh brought up a website that played a jingle upon opening.

"_Who can you trust? Who can you trust to transport your cars? Harwood's! You won't be sorry with a Harwood's lorry!_"

"Catchy." Ianto said, keeping a perfectly straight face. Gwen smiled at the song, in an almost embarrassed way.

"Do you think the haulage firm might be in on it, too?" Tosh asked.

The words had barely left her mouth when Gwen vehemently denied, "Rhys? No! He doesn't know what goes in the vans, he just hires them out."

Ianto frowned, and pointed out, "Driver must have seen it loaded."

"That doesn't implicate Rhys." Gwen defended, determinedly, "He's the most honest man I know."

"Well that's not saying much." Ianto deadpanned, before taking a sip of his coffee so as not to allow a smile to show at his self-depreciating joke. Gwen did a double-take, and he shrugged. She must have seen the faint amusement in his eyes, because she didn't shout at him.

"Have you got his direct line?" Tosh asked, completely ignoring the silent communication in favour of getting right to the problem at hand. Gwen blinked, and turned to face Tosh, pulling out her mobile phone to find the number in question.

Ianto sighed silently, and glanced at Jack. She met his eyes and then quickly closed her own, turning her head away from him, in a way that said quite clearly that he shouldn't say anything, even if Tosh really didn't get it. So they watched in silence as Gwen showed Tosh the number, and Tosh quickly typed it into her computer, and called that number.

A female voice answered the phone, sounding through the speakers so that the whole team could hear it, "Harwood's Haulage. How may I help you?"

"This is Detective Inspector Sato." Tosh replied coolly, "Could I speak to a Mr Rhys Williams, please." in spite of the way it was worded, that was an order, and not a question.

They heard the woman- secretary, Ianto guessed- speak distantly to someone else, probably with her hand over the receiver, "It's the police."

A few seconds passed, and a male voice answered, "Hello."

"Hello, is that Rhys Williams?" Tosh asked.

"Yeah, speaking."

"I'm sure you're aware of the incident this morning involving one of your vehicles?" and this time it was a question. How she did that, making questions sound like commands and statements like questions, Ianto really did wonder.

"Yes, I'm aware of the accident." Rhys's exasperated voice answered.

"I'd like to ask you for some details on the company that was employing the vehicle in question." and she'd done it again- that should have been a question, but it wasn't! Ianto glanced up at Jack, to see her quickly hide a smile. Yeah, she thought Tosh's cold-call ability was amazing, as well. If that woman worked for a telesales company on a commission, she'd be filthy stinking rich.

"Yeah." Rhys said, sounding a bit distracted, "It's a firm called Harris and Harris. They came to us about two months back. It's a weekly contract."

Ianto made a note of that. Harris & Harris, need to check up on them. Two months, probably check for rift activity shortly before that, then. Once a week, so they would know when their next opportunity to investigate would be. The actual notes he made were basically shorthand for exactly that. He underlined the bit about rift activity.

"Are they licensed?" Tosh asked, glancing at Ianto as he made his notes. Ianto shrugged in answer to her query.

"Yeah, of course they're licensed!" Rhys said, sounding offended that she needed to ask.

"Could you give me their address?" Tosh asked, still watching Ianto. He was now watching her computer... admittedly he couldn't see the screen, but it was the best object in the room to stare expectantly at while Rhys hesitated, and the sound of paperwork shuffling frantically could be heard in the background.

Rhys's unintelligible angry muttering and his secretary's equally unintelligible response could be heard, in spite of his obvious attempt to cover the phone so they wouldn't hear. Ianto handed his notes to Jack, who glanced at the piece of paper briefly, then nodded. And now Rhys spoke to them again, "Uh, no, sorry. All I've got is a service station on the A470, Fifteen miles from Cardiff."

"Do you have their contact number?" Tosh asked, still sounding perfectly polite and patient, in spite of the fact that this was a relatively unhelpful phone call. Rhys did sound like he was honestly annoyed himself at the lack of useful information he had to pass on to the 'Detective Inspector', but it did still sound suspicious.

After a significant pause, Rhys answered in a tight voice that only added to Ianto's believe that he was just as frustrated by this as they were, "No, there's no contact number either."

"Can you tell me where your driver took the meat?" Tosh continued, undeterred, as Jack handed her Ianto's note. She glanced at it, briefly, while Rhys answered her question.

"Yes, he was taking it to Caerwen Abattoir." Rhys said, sounding quite relieved to have real information for them, "It's a processing plant, just, uh gen- a gen- general meat suppliers." also quite nervous, if the stammering was anything to go by.

"What time did the driver leave base?" Tosh asked, maintaining her tone perfectly, as she turned slightly to type commands into her rift-monitor program on her second computer terminal.

More turning of pages was clearly audible over the phone, and after a moment Rhys answered that, "Uh, signed out at ten to one." he said, still sounding nervous. The second he gave that time, Ianto started working on another computer terminal, calling up the traffic cameras at the crash-site, a week ago. "Can I ask, what's this about?"

'_No... no, you really can't._' Ianto thought idly, as he fast-forwarded through from the time Rhys had given. He spotted the lorry driving out from the city, saved that bit of the video, and continued to watch.

"I can't release that information, sir." Tosh said efficiently, "Thanks for your cooperation." and she ended the call. Seconds later, he could hear her keyboard clacking away as she worked on her own logs of rift activity.

The silence had barely settled when Ianto spotted the lorry on the camera for the second time, "Got him!" he called out to the others. Everyone came over to see what he'd done, so he replayed the footage he'd saved, for them to see, "There he is, coming back forty minutes later." he hit the pause button, turning to face them, "Let's say it takes twenty minutes to load. We're talking a ten-mile radius."

But this debate on strategy was interrupted by Owen yelling, "Jack!"

"What?" Jack called back, turning to run down to the autopsy room. The other two followed pretty quickly. Ianto continued to check his computer, searching for likely matches within that radius... but the conversation in the autopsy room was loud enough for him to hear, anyway.

"Scan shows it's definitely alien meat." Owen announced.

Jack sighed, before asking, "Where the hell would they get it from?"

Tosh's voice pointed out the obvious and unpleasant fact that, "If it's going into the processing plant, that means it's going into pies, burgers, pasties... everything."

And Gwen sounded utterly horrified as she concluded, "That means people have been eating it for months." Ianto frowned, continuing his search and trying not to think about the potential side-effects of eating unidentified and possibly hazardous extra-terrestrial foodstuffs.

Owen continued to speak, loudly enough for Ianto to catch every word, "Well, the DNA traces are stable. There are some signs of animal sedative, but no detectable diseases or residues. My guess is, it's good to eat."

"Would you eat it?" Gwen asked sceptically. Owen's silence at that was answer enough. Ianto smiled darkly, seriously considering ordering Owen's usual meat-feast pizza, just to annoy him. He had meant to do that anyway, without the malicious intent- it was going to be a long night, he was sure- but had been distracted by Jack.

Even in a perfectly platonic way, Jack could still manage to distract him very efficiently, these days. He decided not to think about the fact that he was probably being overprotective of her, since he'd found out that she was pregnant. It was most likely true, but that didn't mean he needed to think about it.

As the others ascended the stairs, Ianto turned to look at them, "Am I to assume we'll be eating vegetarian food for the next few weeks, then?" he asked innocently. Owen pulled a face, muttered something about rabbit food, and wandered off to sulk.

x x x

The next day, they began the investigation. Ianto had located the warehouse where the meat must have been coming from, and they were sitting outside, now, listening to Ianto, Tosh and Owen reporting. Jack glanced at Gwen, who was all-but literally screaming with nerves and tension... she was clearly not happy with this situation, far more than she was usually effected by their work. It was probably because of Rhys.

She was still getting used to this new ability... hadn't learned to properly block out other people's emotions yet, and it was getting stronger, every day. If she didn't figure it out for herself soon, she'd have to swallow her pride and call the Master for advice. She didn't know the Doctor's number, though she would much prefer to ask the Doctor rather than the Master, if she had the choice.

"How many are in there?" she asked into the commlink.

"Difficult to tell." Owen answered unhelpfully, "There's no windows."

"I've got blueprints of the warehouse." Tosh supplied, from where she was working in the Hub, "The stock has to be in the central area." after a brief pause, she asked almost cruelly, "Having fun?"

"Don't know what you're missing." Ianto deadpanned, causing Jack to smile briefly. She loved that man's sense of humour, she really did.

"According to the sensor, there's a heat signature across the entire building." Owen observed.

"That's a lot of meat." Gwen muttered. At that moment, her phone rang. Jack looked at it with a slight frown, but didn't get a good look before Gwen had turned it off and put it away again. The irritation she could sense from Gwen made her think that might have been Rhys.

Jack sighed, looking across at the warehouse, before giving out the orders, "You two take the sides. Gwen and I will go in the front. We don't want any casualties. We stun-gun whoever's in there and put a stop to what they're doing." She glanced to Gwen, who was suddenly nervous, "Come on... let's go." she said gently, before getting out of the SUV and leading the way around the building.

Something about this warehouse unsettled her. She couldn't place it, but it made her skin crawl, as she got close to the outer wall. She hesitated, blinking back a sudden sense of exhaustion and weakness, mentally cursing. Telepathic aliens, just what she didn't need right now!

She only just maintained the presence of mind to stop at the corner, when she saw movement around the front of the building. She took a step back catching Gwen before she could go out there, "There's someone there."

Gwen looked, cautiously, "It's Rhys." she said, at first not even processing this, then the shock and horror hit, "It's Rh-? What's he doing?"

As they watched Rhys, a white sports car drove up, roaring a bit as it stopped in front of him. Jack frowned, trying to ignore the sense of weakness in the back of her mind as she focused on Rhys instead. That car's revving echoed an emotion- anger and threat- from whoever drove it... and Rhys was radiating nervousness in an almost tangible way, though it wasn't visible to any normal human senses.

She didn't speak, just watched, one hand still on Gwen's shoulder to hold her back. Two men got out of the car, approaching Rhys and almost circling him in what felt like a predatory way. Something in their attitude made her think of jackals. "Why's he here?" Gwen whispered, confused and a bit angry.

Jack shook her head, tightening her grip on Gwen's shoulder a little, to tell her to wait- preferably quietly- and continued to watch as one man spoke into a radio. That one was in charge... she could definitely sense that much. "Ianto, Owen. Stand down. Repeat: stand down." she commanded, to her own commlink, still watching.

The two men led Rhys into the building... Rhys did a good job of acting like he was comfortable with the situation, but they were escorting him like a man to the gallows, and she could sense that he really did feel that way as well. Gwen made to run past her, but Jack caught her around the waist, pulling her back behind the corner and holding her there.

"I have to get him out of there!" Gwen protested.

"You really think it's a good idea to go charging in there now they have someone you care about? Hostage situation waiting to happen, Gwen." Jack hissed angrily, still holding her in spite of her struggles. Jack closed her eyes, allowing her mind to focus on Gwen's anger so as not to think about how she herself felt about the way Gwen was squirming in her arms right now. Think about _that _ too much, might end up kissing her.

After a moment, Gwen stopped struggling, and glared at Jack. Jack could feel that glare without opening her eyes... but she could also feel something else... crying. Her grip on Gwen's waist loosened, then she fell back against the wall, hands moving to her head as it began to hurt.

"Jack?" Gwen asked, concern washing over Jack's mind in waves, pushing back the pain. "Ianto, Owen, get round here, something's happened to Jack!"

"Oh no..." Jack groaned, opening one eye a crack, to look up at Gwen almost resentfully, "You didn't just tell those two something was wrong with me, did you?"

"Well you don't look too great to me, Captain Jack Harkness." Oh... this was not good. Full name- as far as she knew, anyway- and Gwen's best mother-hen voice. Just what Jack did _not _ need right now. She did her best to pull herself together, standing up straight and staring Gwen down with determination.

Footsteps quickly approached, from around the back of the building. Owen and Ianto ran up to them, and both of them were at Jack's side in an instant, as Ianto asked, "What happened?"

"I'm fine." Jack said sharply. Gwen held her gaze for almost thirty seconds, before caving and looking away. The crying in the back of her mind seemed to fade away, as she focused on her team instead. Both Owen and Ianto were concerned, and she knew they had every right to be, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

She was eternally grateful when Gwen interrupted the impending interrogation from the two men, by suddenly saying, "Rhys!" luckily, in spite of the emphasis, she didn't actually shout it, so only the three of them heard her.

They all turned to look, as Rhys left the warehouse, looking positively amicable to the two men that had been so threatening earlier. He shook the hand of the one in charge, and smiled as they talked. Jack tilted her head to one side, not exactly caring what the others thought of it as she tried to read Rhys and the two strangers.

He was still nervous, scared of these men. But both of them were positively warm and friendly, thick as thieves with him. Best guess, Rhys had pulled a damned good con on them. And oh, how Jack knew about confidence tricks. Judging by these two men, Rhys was good at it, too. Even Jack would have thought Rhys was happily conspiring with them if she hadn't sensed his emotions.

"He's working with them." Ianto said quietly.

Gwen shook her head, emotional pain striking Jack like a slap to the face, as she murmured softly, "I don't get it."

Jack shook her head, putting a hand on Gwen's shoulder once more, this time in a gesture of comfort, "Oh, he's good." she said softly, smiling, "Could almost rival me as a con-artist." she paused, then repeated, "Almost. He's got one of those innocent faces, they really bought it."

"You what?" Owen asked, staring blatantly at Jack.

"He's not in on it. He's investigating it, just like us." Jack said, her smile widening into a bright grin, "Gwen, I think we need to go and talk to your fiance." Gwen gave her a confused look, and she elaborated, "Tell him the truth."

x x x


	8. Welcome To Planet Earth

x x x

**Chapter 8: Imprisoned Chained and Drugged... Welcome To Planet Earth**

x x x

Rhys was angry, furious even, at Gwen. This had gradually become a regular thing, ever since Gwen had gotten that promotion to 'Special Ops'. The problems had started then, but this really took the cake! She was lying to him, not just keeping secrets but outright lying. He had seen her with his own two eyes at the crash site, and when he had asked her about it earlier, she completely denied it all. And if that wasn't bad enough, his own company was involved, and she still wasn't telling him anything about what was going on.

So he had taken matters into his own hands... and what had happened? He'd gone and got himself involved in some sort of illegal trafficking business. Such a wonderful day to be Rhys Williams.

He jumped slightly, when the door opened with the distinct grating of keys that told him Gwen was home. His hand clenched around the bottle he had been drinking from. He had almost never lied to her about anything, and even when he had it had been about something stupid like losing his keys or getting drunk with BananaBoat, not something as huge as this. Rhys felt betrayed.

The door opened, and Gwen stepped into the apartment, looking tense- nervous, even? And she was very closely followed by that woman he had seen with her at the crash-site, and again when he'd been tailing her. And this woman was now scanning their living room with her eyes, in idle curiosity. Rhys looked at them both, with his eyebrows raised in a silent question to Gwen. _'Who's she then?_' He didn't ask it out loud... just slowly set his beer down on the table and turned to face them both. For whatever reason, one thing seemed clear in Rhys's mind. Gwen had brought backup. Bloody wonderful.

The way Gwen glanced at the other woman looked like deference, a question Rhys couldn't read into the gesture. Usually, he could read Gwen's face like an open book, but this nervousness was new to him. The other woman seemed to get it, though, taking a step forward, "Rhys Williams?" she said politely, not waiting for the answer before continuing, "I'm Jack Harkness." the charming tone in her voice was literally breath-taking... and she looked even better up close, too.

It took a moment for Rhys's brain to kick in, as he stared blankly at the stunning woman. Eventually, he cleared his throat lightly, forcing his eyes back onto Gwen and away from the woman- didn't want her to see him staring like that. But then he realised this must seem rude to the woman who had just introduced herself, so he looked back at her. He frowned slightly, the name Jack Harkness rang a bell in his head but he was coming up blank, he assumed Jack was a shortened version of something like Jackie or Jacqueline. "Umm, hi." he offered awkwardly.

Gwen elbowed her sharply in the ribs, and Jack had the good grace to give Gwen an almost apologetic look. Like she was saying 'sorry for flirting with your fiance'. Gwen then quickly added, "She's my boss." sounding quite nervous as she said it.

Jack nodded, "We need to talk to you about something very important."

Rhys idly picked up his beer and took a swig of it, before he looked at them both, choking on his drink as a thought occurred to him. Were they sleeping together? Rhys added up the odd way Gwen had been acting lately, mostly since a month after she started her new job. It all fitted. He stared at them with wide eyes, pushing away the mental images until he was sure he was correct. He tried to resist the urge to ask, but he had never been that good at self-control... and so he blurted out, "Are you sleeping together?"

Jack chuckled with amusement, and Rhys made the supreme effort to keep his eyes on Gwen's face and not watch the way Jack's chest, moved as she only just avoided actually giggling. He saw her glance at Gwen, almost questioningly, with a slightly disturbing glint in her eyes. Gwen met that gaze very coldly, and shook her head slowly and sternly. Translation, 'no chance'. But this Jack chick seemed like she'd be up for it if Gwen'd let her.

Rhys relaxed immediately, "Oh, thank God." he exclaimed, in relief. He was slightly disappointed, too- they were both very attractive women, and those mental pictures were not easy to dismiss- but the relief still out-weighed that. Then he suddenly realised how that must have sounded. "Not that I have anything against that sort of thing." he added quickly.

Jack laughed, "Not even a threesome?" she asked Gwen, who continued to glare at her.

Rhys snickered slightly at that, before he could help himself. He liked Jack's sense of humour... but he quickly changed the subject when Gwen glared at him. "What did you want to talk to me about then?"

Jack turned to face him, still seeming perfectly friendly as she observed almost casually, "We saw you at that warehouse, earlier today."

All amusement Rhys may have felt disappeared instantly, "What? You- you saw me?" Suddenly everything clicked into place sharply, Gwen had brought her boss around. Gwen was police. "You don't think I had anything to do with that lot, do you?"

Jack smiled in a strange way that made her seem almost harmless, but Rhys guessed that was a _very_ false impression, "No, I could tell that you were lying through your teeth to make that lot play nice. One thing I can't figure out is how you found the place, when you told-" she cleared her throat, trying not to laugh, suddenly, "-ah, the 'Detective Inspector', that you didn't know their address."

"How'd you know I even sp- that was you, wasn't it?" He asked glumly. Rhys carefully avoided answering the 'question', unconsciously pinching the bridge of his nose, as he mumbled. "Christ, I should have guessed."

"She works with us, yes." Jack said simply, undeterred, "The warehouse?" she said, a shorter way of repeating her question.

But Gwen cut across that question, asking, "Should have guessed what?"

"That something like this would happen." he replied with a shrug, "I might have followed you." he answered Jack's question sheepishly.

Jack grinned, "Sneaky, shows initiative, good at conning the bad-guys. I like your taste in men, Gwen."

Gwen just stared blankly at Rhys for a second, before shouting, "You followed me?!"

Rhys backed away slightly, his hands up in a pacifying gesture, "You weren't telling me anything, you were lying to me, and my company was involved in whatever's going on. What was I supposed to do?"

"I'm sorry, Rhys." Jack said, sounding like she was a little unsure of whether or not it was ok for her to use his first name. She stepped between the two of them, "This is my fault." Gwen turned to stare at her like she was completely insane, all anger at Rhys seemingly forgotten.

Rhys had a feeling he was staring at her the same way, "What are you on about?" he asked.

"Our work is highly classified." Jack explained calmly, "This isn't the first time that Gwen has wanted to tell you something about what we do, and I've ordered her not to."

"Wha-?" Rhys rubbed his hands over his face in exasperation, before he asked, "Right, right. And what do you do then?"

Jack stepped aside, looking to Gwen, as if telling her she got the honour of sharing this bit of information with Rhys. Gwen hesitated, frowning... probably trying to think of how best to word it, whatever it was.

Rhys eyed her warily for a moment, "Just tell me, love." he said reassuringly.

"Not sure how to tell you. Don't know if you'll even believe it." Gwen muttered, nervously, "I hardly believed it at first."

"Well..." he paused, trying to find a way to reassure her. "Well, you never know. I could be fine about it."

Gwen took a deep breath, closed her eyes and tried to compose herself, before saying rather bluntly, "We catch aliens." Rhys saw the face that Jack pulled at that, as if she was thinking she'd have worded that differently.

Whatever he had been expecting it had not been that, he stared at her open mouthed in surprise, "No." he said determinedly, shaking his head. Although it would be a good way to explain that creature he'd seen in the warehouse, now wouldn't it?

"It's true." Jack said calmly, arms folded, "Catch isn't always the right word, sometimes they crash here and don't survive, we clear away what's left so that no one stumbles across potentially dangerous remains. Recover technology, when we can. Other times, they're not even hostile... we negotiate-"

"Really?" Gwen asked, looking at Jack, surprised.

"Well, it's been a bad year..." Jack muttered, frowning. So obviously Gwen hadn't actually met one of these friendly aliens, since she got the job.

And suddenly Rhys realised that he believed this! They were talking about it so sincerely, in such a matter-of-fact way, that it might just be true. He nodded slowly, "So... is E.T. real, then?"

"Nnnno." Jack said, looking like she was trying very hard not to laugh, "Although some species of aliens _can_ telekinetically levitate things, like that..."

Rhys laughed before becoming grim once more, "That animal in the warehouse... was that an alien?"

Jack frowned, "Probably... tell us, what did it look like?"

Rhys pulled a face, trying to remember exactly what it looked like. "Uh, it was like this huge, shapeless beast filling the space, like a mound of flesh."

"Just one creature?" Jack asked, surprised.

"Yeah just one, or they only showed me one... but it was big, don't think there was room for more." Rhys said, seriously doubting that there was more than one of them, but also not trusting those two blokes' word for it that that was all they'd got, "And they said it was growing."

"Wait, it's alive?" Jack asked, shocked.

"So how're they getting the meat, if there's only one-" Gwen stopped talking when she realised what this must mean, and her eyes widened... she really looked like she was going to be sick at the thought.

At about the same time as Gwen said this, Jack wrapped her left arm around herself. Looked like she wasn't even thinking about what she was doing, but she did grip her side, right about the human equivalent of where Rhys had seen the men cutting at the alien creature earlier. She looked very uncomfortable at the thought, too.

Rhys frowned worriedly, looking at her, "Hey, are you okay?" he nodded down to her arm.

"Huh? Oh." Only now did she seem to notice the way her hand was twisting into her coat, and she frowned, "Yeah. I just really hate to think of that sort of cruelty..." she said, sounding as if her mind was elsewhere at the moment.

Rhys really didn't believe that was the only reason, and Gwen seemed to agree with him, too, "Jack, I've been working with you for a year and a half, I know when you're lying."

"Because my mouth opens and sound comes out?" Jack suggested, trying to use the bad joke to deflect the accusation.

"Just like when you said you were fine, earlier." Gwen observed pointedly.

Jack shook her head, "It's not important." she said quietly.

"You should get Owen to check you over." Gwen insisted.

Jack rolled her eyes, but reluctantly answered, in a tone that sounded like she just wanted Gwen to stop pestering her about it, "If you insist." She then quickly turned to face Rhys directly again, "Would you mind coming in to speak to the rest of our team? We need all the information we can get on this alien, and we could use your help."

Rhys glanced briefly at Gwen, before looking back at Jack, "I'm not under arrest, or anything, am I?" he asked warily.

"No, of course not, Rhys." Gwen answered immediately.

"Unless you really like handcuffs." Jack suggested idly, smirking slightly as some genuine humour returned to her tone.

Rhys just managed to keep a straight face as he asked, "And if I do?"

Gwen squeaked, blushing furiously when she heard him say that, "Rhys!" she yelped, before adding in a hissed whisper, "Don't encourage her! She doesn't need to know about that!"

Jack laughed, "Learn something new every day."

x x x

They brought Rhys to the Hub, through the tourist office. Jack led him to the elevator, and his first remark was, "This something like that Men In Black film?" Jack laughed, but then behind Rhys's back she gave Gwen a significant look. Part of that movie's entire premise was the importance of making people _forget_ about the aliens.

Gwen stared back defiantly, and then the moment was broken when the elevator stopped. They emerged in front of the cog-door, and Jack activated it, standing back to allow them both to enter the Hub before her. The first thing to draw Rhys's attention was an indignant shriek from overhead. Jack wasn't sure how she could tell that it was indignant, but Myfanwy, their resident pterodactyl, was definitely not happy with the newcomer.

Rhys looked up with a start, to see her soaring across from her nest to one of the larger air-vents she liked to perch on. He laughed, almost gleefully, "That looked so real."

"It is real." Gwen said, as if he should have guessed that.

Rhys gave her a 'yeah, right' look, "They're extinct, Gwen." he said bluntly.

Jack put a hand on Rhys's shoulder, as she moved to step past him, "Not this one." she said brightly, before walking out onto the main floor, and turning to face them with her arms out in an open and inviting gesture, "Welcome to our headquarters."

Rhys stepped nervously in through the doorway, scanning the area warily, as if expecting to find a velociraptor hiding behind any one of the random pieces of machinery, "They're bigger than mine." he observed idly.

Jack laughed lightly at that, and nodded to the others, who were gathered near the computers. With a wave of her hand she introduced them, "This is the rest of the team. Ianto, Toshiko, and Owen."

Rhys nodded politely in their general direction, "Pleased to meet you." he glanced up warily, then asked, "Uh... the dinosaur?"

"Technically, the term 'dinosaur' only refers to a very specific group of terrestrial reptiles." Ianto observed, "The correct term for our friend there would be pterosaur."

Owen pointedly cleared his throat, "I think he meant why's there something from the cretaceous era flying around our Hub." Ianto scowled at Owen, with an 'I knew that' look, but didn't retort. So Owen took it upon himself to explain, doing his best to sound put upon at having to give The Speech. Jack knew he was really loving it. "There's a rift through space and time that runs through Cardiff, Rhys... and stuff slips through it from other timelines and planets and it's our job to monitor it."

Rhys stared at Owen for a moment, then looked at the other two briefly, spent another few seconds staring sceptically at Jack, before turning to Gwen and stage-whispering, "You sure they're not some weird kind of cult?"

Gwen elbowed him in the ribs, grinning nervously, "Come on, this is serious!"

"Why don't you tell Owen and Toshiko exactly what you witnessed in the warehouse?" Jack suggested, "Owen is our medical expert, and Toshiko's the scientist."

"What about the other guy?" Rhys asked, eyeing Ianto now.

"I make the coffee." Ianto said rather coldly, before turning and leaving to do so.

Jack scowled, gave Gwen a look that managed to convey the message, 'You're in charge of him until I get back.' and followed Ianto.

She found him exactly where he said he would be. Making coffee. While idly wishing for some of that particular chemical dependency right now, she crept up behind him and interrupted him, "Ianto?"

"She's not going to like it, when you ask her to retcon him." he said simply, before abandoning what he was doing and turning to face Jack.

Jack frowned, "I know. I'm not sure what we're going to do about him, to be honest."

"Why did you offer to bring him in?" Ianto asked sharply, obviously disapproving.

"He was already part of the situation." Jack said defensively, "It wasn't exactly a great leap to assume he had already seen the source of the meat while he was in that warehouse."

Ianto frowned, "Did he?"

"Yes." she looked away from him now, and he took a step closer, cautiously.

"What was it?"

"An alien."

"One? Singular?" Ianto asked, and Jack nodded. He blinked, "Wow."

"He said they were cutting it up while it was still alive." she shuddered at the thought, and Ianto must have noticed, because he put a hand on her shoulder, trying to be reassuring. She sighed, "We'll figure out what to do about his memories after this is over, okay?"

Ianto nodded, "It's just strange. I've worked for Torchwood for six years, now... no one's ever brought in an outsider before." he scowled, adding in a dark mutter, "Except for that time when the Doctor showed up at Canary Wharf, and brought some friends with him. They all ended up dead, just like the rest of the workforce there."

"That wasn't his fault." she snapped... but then she smiled as she added, "And I have it on good authority that the people he brought are still alive in an alternate plain of reality." Ianto looked away, not answering. It took her a moment to realise that it might not have been the best idea to try to find a bright side to that battle, in Ianto's presence. Not after Lisa. "I'm sorry." she said softly.

He shook his head, "Don't worry about it." he really didn't sound convincing at all, even if she hadn't been able to sense his pain at the memories that must have brought up.

Jack felt the strong desire to hold him, to kiss him and make the pain go away... but before she could act on that, Gwen walked into the room. '_Someone needs to teach that girl to knock, first._' Jack thought idly. A few seconds later and she'd have been interrupting something much more visibly personal than the conversation she had just walked in on.

Gwen was noticeably irritable, and her voice was very snappish when she spoke, "Rhys has an idea about how to get us into that warehouse." she didn't need to speak to get the next part across clear as crystal, but she said it anyway, "I don't like it."

Jack looked at her, maintaining a serious expression as she nodded, "Team meeting, bring him as well."

Gwen scowled deeply, but nodded in acceptance of this order, before turning on her heel and leaving the room with a bit more drama than was entirely necessary.

"What're the odds he wants to go in with us?" Ianto asked dryly.

x x x

In spite of Gwen's protests, the plan was that Rhys- who had managed to convince the Harris brothers that he was their new delivery-boy- was to simply drive up to the front door. The team would stow away in the back of the van, so as to bypass any security on the building, and sneak in while Rhys distracted the guard with idle chit-chat.

Simple plan. And that stage of it went off without a hitch.

Jack had originally wanted Owen and Ianto to deal with the storage and drug-rooms, while Tosh and Gwen would go with her to the main room. Ianto had been insistent that he go with Jack. After a very brief and one-sided argument, which Ianto won with incredible ease, Tosh had been sent with Owen, instead.

When they entered the warehouse, Jack felt that same sense of weakness, again. It almost felt like she was really really high on pain meds... having done that a few times in the past (for legitimate medical purposes... mostly) she did recognise the sensations. This time, she wasn't taken by surprise by it. She hadn't told the others about this, and personally blamed the telepathy, but she did manage to blink back the effects, and maintain some degree of focus.

They found their way through the corridors, into the main room where Rhys had said the creature was being kept. Before they saw it, they heard it... a low-pitched rumbling moan. Even without her empathic abilities, Jack could tell from the sound alone that it was in pain.

"Oh my God." Gwen whispered, awed as the three of them stopped and stared up at it, "It's amazing."

The creature was huge... about two thirds the height of the roof of the warehouse itself, and wide enough that there was only a narrow space to walk between it and the crates that lined the outer walls. Every instinct and emotion Jack felt made her want to reach out and comfort the creature... but with significant effort she closed her eyes and held herself back.

"How did they get it in here?" Ianto asked quietly. It was a very good question... there were no doors in this building that the alien could fit through, now. But Rhys had said it had been growing... it had to have been smaller when these... people- oh, how that word was too civilised for them- had found it.

But then she heard a sound. Movement. She quickly shushed Ianto, and signalled for them to back away behind the crates. They obeyed without a sound, and the three of them watched a man pushing a trolley past. He didn't see them.

Silently, with a military sort of efficiency, Jack led the other two after that man, moving from behind one crate to the next, careful to maintain their cover. He wasn't paying attention, anyway. A worker, not a soldier, and certainly never a good look-out.

They had just moved close enough to see the man, again, when Jack felt a searing pain, starting in her head, and then ripping down through her right side. She fought back the instinct to cry out, or even gasp audibly, as she clutched her head with her right hand, and her side with the other... and slid down to the ground, with her back to the crate she was hiding behind.

She was only vaguely aware of what was going on around her. Heard the creature's moaning turn into a high-pitched keening sound. Cries of pain.

An instant later, Ianto was at her side. The familiar scent of his aftershave, and the gentle touch of his hand on her shoulder pulled her back to reality, enough to open her eyes and see the concern written all over his face. She fought back the pain, forced a weak smile, then glanced to the side, silently asking him what was happening.

He frowned in the direction she knew the man had gone, a deep scowl that showed revulsion and anger. A moment later, Ianto stood up, and she felt the pain pulling at her mind again the instant she lost his comforting presence... but she fought it, and saw the worker pass them with a wheelbarrow... Ianto stepped out behind him and struck him with the stun-gun.

She turned away in disgust when she got a glimpse of what was in that wheelbarrow... a huge slab of meat, just like those they'd seen in the back of the lorry. A piece of the alien creature's flesh, freshly cut... while it was still alive. She felt like she was going to be sick at the thought, let alone the sight and smell of it.

She heard movement, and looked over to see Ianto dragging the unconscious man out of sight. Gwen was now looking at her with concern, "Jack?" she asked in a low tone, in case there were others nearby to overhear them.

But Jack shook her head, which really only served to increase the pain she felt there, "I'll live." she muttered darkly. But she felt it would probably be a Very Bad Idea to try to stand again, right away. Instead, she looked up at the alien, sadly... grateful that she couldn't see, from this angle, where they must have been cutting into it, "What have they done to you?" she asked softly.

Its eye opened, and she felt a sense of pleading as it made another keening sound, in the same pitch as its cries of pain, but quieter. The sound itself conveyed that emotion clearly enough on its own. But she could also sense the confusion and fear, more fitting of a lost child than anything else.

Her mouth opened slightly, as she stared at it for a few seconds, shocked, before whispering, "I think I know why it's still growing..."

Both Ianto and Gwen looked at her, confused... but then another wave of pain hit her, and this time she did cry out, drowning in the pain. There was nothing else.

x x x

Ianto was startled when Jack moaned in pain. Loudly. He quickly knelt next to her again, putting a hand over her mouth and wrapping his other arm around her shoulders, trying to calm her and silence her at the same time. If anyone heard this, they would all be in a lot of trouble. She was quickly reduced to sobbing quietly, and he wrapped both arms around her now, holding her close to his chest, trying to soothe her.

"Everyone..." Owen's low voice came over the commlink, "They're armed."

Gwen's eyes widened, and she stared at Ianto, "Rhys..." she whispered fearfully.

Ianto looked up at her sharply, and hissed, "No." in his best commanding tone. Usually, he would allow Gwen to take control- that was what had happened the last time they had been without Jack- but right now was not a good time for that. "If they see you they'll _know _ something's wrong. You need to check this area. Make sure there's no one else in here."

She frowned at him, clearly not happy with this. He did understand her concern for Rhys, but she had to know he was right about this. After a moment, she nodded efficiently, "Yeah, alright." and she quickly left to do as he had said.

Once she was gone, he started gently running his fingers through Jack's hair, "Jack..." he whispered, "Jack, please, come back to me..."

The alien moaned in pain again, and Jack seemed to react to it, cringing and turning to bury her face in Ianto's chest. A horrifying thought came to his mind. She had said she could sense people's emotions... could she feel this alien's pain?

Remembering his Torchwood One training- intended to defend against telepaths- he now did the exact opposite... tried to relax his mind, stop thinking about the danger they were in, and just hold her. Comfort her, let his true feelings for her come to the surface.

He hoped it would be enough to ease some of the pain, and he really tried not to think how much it hurt him to see her like this, that wouldn't help her. Her sobbing continued, but seemed to quiet slightly, as he held her, rubbing her back gently, and resting his cheek on the top of her head.

He listened to the others on the commlink, "All clear from up here." Gwen's voice assured him, "I've got a good view from the catwalk, I'll keep you informed, Ianto."

Tosh's nervous whisper now came to him, "There's three men down here, storage room. I'm cornered, but they've not seen me yet."

"Wait for it, only take them out if they're alone or you have no choice." Ianto said quietly, "Owen... any word on the sedatives they've been using on the creature?"

"Found 'em, two bad-guys unconscious, down here, now." Owen added, "I'll have this ready for you in a few minutes, or do you want me to help Tosh?"

"I'll go to her." Gwen offered.

"Yeah, Gwen." Ianto decided, "Owen, we need that sedative as quickly as possible."

"What's the rush?" Owen asked, sounding distracted, clearly working on it as he spoke, "It's not going anywhere, is it?"

"Owen." Ianto hissed through gritted teeth, biting back his anger, "Jack's not well, so just hurry up."

"Shit." Owen grumbled irritably, "Right, few minutes. Promise."

_Just a few minutes, love._

Jack shifted slightly, the sobbing had stopped completely now, and she wrapped her arms around his waist now. He smiled faintly, turned off the outgoing comms, and whispered, "Does it still hurt?" He felt her nod, her face still buried in his chest as she made a faint whimpering noise, and her grip on him tightened, "It'll be alright, soon." he promised.

"Rhys just left." Gwen reported, sounding pleased with this, "But I can't get to Tosh."

"Oh, hello." Owen's voice cut across Gwen, quite loudly, "And who're you then?"

"That- that's my line." a nervous-sounding and unfamiliar voice observed.

x x x

"Now, just calm down, we can be reasonable here." Owen said calmly, holding his hands out to the side, as he faced this man. He had untidy emo-hair, wore thick-rimmed glasses and a satchel, and looked well more than a little bit nervous. Like he didn't think he should be here any more than he thought Owen should be here, really, "Lot of drugs around here, someone got a bit of an addiction, hmm?"

"That's not funny." the other man snapped, shakily. He wasn't even armed, like the others.

Owen relaxed a little. "Really not." he agreed, dropping the light tone, and lowering his hands as well, "Alright, mate. You know what you've got in this place?"

"A-an animal..." he said nervously. There was a strange sense of hope to his attitude now, in spite of being wary. It was almost as if he was _hoping_ Owen was with some animal-protection agency, or something.

"Nope." Owen said, shaking his head, "You've got an _alien_. Extra-terrestrial life-form. And you and your buddies are carving it up while it's still alive."

The man mouthed the word 'alien' with great scepticism, "No way..." he whispered. But then he shook his head, lowering his gaze to the floor, "I- I told them it was cruel... I've been managing the sedatives, here, 'cause it was in so much pain."

"Right." Owen said, drawing out the word, "Because drugging it up makes it all alright, doesn't it?"

"Owen..." Ianto's voice called over the comms, "Tell him it's sentient."

Owen hesitated, wondering if this was true. Hoping for the alien's sake that it wasn't. Hoping for these people's sake, against Jack's wrath, that it wasn't. Still, he did as Ianto said, speaking with confidence, "But as I was saying, that's not just an animal, in there. It's a sentient being."

"Oh, God..." the man said, shaking his head in denial as he took a step back, both looking and sounding suitably shocked, "No. It can't be."

"It is." Owen said with a note of certainty he didn't really feel, "You can help us put a stop to this. Tell your buddies out there, make them understand that-"

"They don't listen to me." the man said, sounding dejected by that fact, and still clearly horrified by this new revelation, "They think I'm being daft for caring, already."

"Maybe they'll care if they realise the truth." Owen suggested, getting the impression from this guy that that was a bit of a long-shot.

"Isn't it obvious this is all wrong?" he snapped, angrily. Probably mad at his buddies, but the yelling was still aimed in Owen's direction, which was more than a little annoying, "You think I've not tried to talk them out of it already?!"

"And you're going along with it anyway?" Owen snapped back.

"Only way I can try to ease its pain at all, isn't it?" he asked, suddenly deflating, and shuddering slightly as he added, "They'd just cut it up without the ketamine, if I weren't here."

"But you know I'm right, or you'd have let them know I was here, by now." The man hesitated... and then nodded. "So help us now. We don't want to hurt your friends, look, we're only armed with stun-guns. See?" Owen took out the stun-gun and showed it to the man. He stared at it for a second, frowning slightly, but then looked up at him with hope in his eyes.

"How're you going to help, though?" he asked.

Owen smiled grimly, "We're the alien experts. You help us get these other guys away from it, we'll be able to figure out how to patch it up and send it home."

"Yeah... okay." he nodded, hesitating for a second, then he held his hand out to Owen, "I'm Victor Harris. Everyone calls me Vic."

"Owen Harper." Owen shook his hand briskly, then turned to the side, careful not to turn his back on Vic, even if the guy did seem trustworthy. Can never be too paranoid. He indicated the shelves of drugs against the wall, "The creature's in a lot of pain, right now. Want to help me with that?"

"Yeah, I'll sort that now." he said, turning his back on Owen without a second thought, as he approached the shelves. Owen idly considered how easy this guy would be to stun right now, but an extra pair of hands would definitely be of help to them at the moment. Vic immediately started to work on the drugs, taking out more ketamine from his satchel.

"Great. I've got something else to do. I'll meet you back in the main room." Owen said, turning to leave, not taking his eyes off Vic, until he reached the door.

Just as he glanced out to see that the coast was clear, Vic spoke, "You said 'we'?" there was that hopeful tone in his voice again. Like more numbers would be a good thing.

Owen turned back to see Vic looking at him curiously. He grinned, "The royal 'we'." he lied, not even trying to sound convincing. And with that, he turned and left the room.

x x x

"Cute, Owen." Gwen's voice said, over the comms, as that conversation ended, "Real cute."

Tosh was smiling faintly, in spite of her predicament. There were now four men in the room with her, and she was squeezed tightly in behind a stack of packing crates in the corner. Crouched down, rather than sitting, because of the blood on the floor.

She heard a light tap on the door, and then scuffling and the voices of the four men muttered amongst themselves, "Knock knock." Gwen whispered in her ear, through the comm.

"Who's there?" Owen answered in an equally quiet tone, amused.

Then the door opened with the sound of a solid kick and a bang as it hit the wall. One of the men managed to ask, "What the-?" but was interrupted by the distinctive crackling sound of a stun-gun.

Confident that all attention would be on the doorway, now, Tosh stood up and quickly darted around the packing crates. She easily made it to the nearest man- they all had their backs to her- and jamming her stun-gun into his back, knocking him out. Gwen and Owen were both here, moving very quickly towards the other two men.

One of the men pulled a gun, but the other didn't even have the time to do that much. Owen took him out with a quick burst from the stun gun, to the man's neck. Gwen was a bit slower, and her target managed to fire off one shot, which seemed to echo loudly through the entire building.

"What was that?!" Ianto's voice snapped over the comms.

Tosh caught the last man with her stun-gun, as Gwen stared down at the wound in her stomach, in shock. "That..." Owen deadpanned coldly, "Was a gunshot." and before he had finished speaking, he had rushed to Gwen before she could fall to her knees... catching her and pulling her up onto a table rather than allowing her to sit or lie on the bloodied floor.

"Is everyone alright?" Ianto demanded.

"No, not really." Owen answered. He was now examining the wound, hastily pulling Gwen's hands and shirt out of the way as he did so. Tosh was surprised by the almost exasperated and bored look that showed through the shock on Gwen's face. Obviously the pain hadn't really hit her yet, and she might just be thinking something along the lines of, 'not again?!'

Jack's voice whispered, "Gwen?"

"Yeah, Gwen." Owen answered briskly, "She'll live... long as I can stop the bleeding. How're you doing, there, Jack?"

"I'm surprised she was able to talk at all." Ianto replied bluntly, "You sure we can trust that guy with the drugs, Owen?"

"He seems alright, I reckon he doesn't want the alien in pain any longer than he can avoid, anyway." Owen said in a dismissive tone.

Tosh frowned, "How many more of them are there?" she asked, "We've taken out four here..."

"Two in the drug-room." Owen added, still working on Gwen's wound.

"One in the main room." Ianto said, over the comms, "But we don't know how many there were to begin with."

"Three more..." the soft whisper over the comms had to be Jack, but it was so quiet Tosh barely even heard her.

"That counting Owen's new friend, or not?" Gwen asked, her voice showed pain, but she seemed to be okay considering. A bit shocked, but okay. Owen had stopped the bleeding, and was now wrapping some makeshift bandages around her to hold it.

x x x

Jack hissed through her teeth at Gwen's question, and Ianto stroked her hair to try to calm her down. "The one with the needles... yes." she growled quietly. He was a bit disturbed to hear the dark emotion in her voice mirrored by a deep rumble from the creature itself.

Owen's morbid suggestion over the comms echoed his concern, but in a snide tone that made it sound almost like he was joking, "Oh, is she channelling it, or something?"

"Owen, stop it." Ianto snapped, "How's Gwen?"

"I'm alright." Gwen answered for herself, and Ianto let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding, so relieved to know his friend was still alive, "I'll have another nice scar, but I'm pretty sure I can walk now." the sharp tone in her voice suggested that she was glaring in Owen's direction. Odds were that he was trying to keep her still, a bit longer, to be sure.

Jack chuckled weakly, as she heard this, "Good girl." she murmured.

"I'm gonna assume she's high on something." Gwen grumbled darkly, "Or she'd never get away with that."

"Owen, go find Doctor Doom, get him up here now." Ianto ordered, idly wondering only after he'd said that, if Owen had ever even read the comics that joke on Victor's name came from, "Gwen, Tosh, see if you can find the other two men here, don't engage them unless you've got element of surprise and advantage of numbers, though. And be careful, they'll have heard that gunfire, as well."

"On it." Gwen said, all business.

"No problem." Tosh said, at almost the exact same moment.

Owen waited a beat, to ensure he was heard, "Yes sir, Mr tea-boy, sir." he barked, a bit like a UNIT soldier, if it weren't for the obscene level of sarcasm he employed. Gwen and Tosh laughed nervously, and Ianto glared at thin air as he indulged in the cruel mental picture of Owen getting shot. It was so good to have an actual memory of being the one to do that, too.

Jack very weakly hit Ianto's chest, but didn't say anything. This did remind him that he was currently holding as-good-as an active telepath, and he quickly repressed that memory again, muttering, "Sorry, Jack."

Jack chuckled weakly- it sounded so painful it made his heart break- then reached a hand up to turn off her commlink. She still didn't look at him, but that was probably because she was still being affected by the alien's pain, "If he knew your mind, he'd know better than to make those jokes." she managed to whisper. The pain in her voice hurt him, but he tried to block that emotion from her.

But then she groaned, tightening her grip around his waist painfully. "I think the drugs are wearing off... he's awake."

"He?" Ianto asked. He felt her nod quickly and shakily, still holding onto him tightly. "The alien?" another weak nod. Ianto's mouth opened slightly, "It's a he?"

"Mmhm." she mumbled weakly, and her voice caught as he heard another sob, "Oh, Ianto... I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here right now, it hurts so much... I've been tortured before, but this... this is... new..." she didn't say it, and he couldn't read her mind so he couldn't tell for certain... but he'd swear the words 'I'm scared' should be added to that sentence.

"It'll be okay, Jack." he promised, forcing himself to believe it, so that it would reassure her, "As soon as Owen gets here, it'll all be fine."

The very instant those words left his mouth, he heard the sound of a gun cocking, and slowly looked up. Two men stood over them, one of whom was pointing a gun at Ianto. Well, really at both of them, as Jack was leaning against his chest. He didn't move, just watched the two men with a frown, waiting for them to speak first.

"And who the hell are you two, then?" the man with the gun asked, "Was it one of you, fired that gun?"

Ianto allowed his fear to show, for a change, hoping to play the part of an innocent bystander, here. "I'm pretty sure the sound came from over that way." he indicated in the correct direction with a nod of his head, knowing that the rest of the team would already be on the move, and there was a chance that these men would be able to tell if he lied.

"So what're you doing here?" the one with the gun demanded.

"At the moment? What does it look like?" Ianto asked, frowning, "She's sick. She needs medical attention."

"Right, and I suppose you just wandered into our warehouse looking for a doctor, eh?" the other man sniped.

Jack tried to bite back a sound that could either have been laughter or a whimper of pain. Either way, the two men heard her, and the first one pointed his gun more specifically in her direction, now. Ianto seethed at the threat, but kept the anger off his face, instead continuing the innocent act.

"Please, we're unarmed." Ianto said, pulling his hands away from Jack just enough for the men to see nothing in them, without actually letting her go. He did feel Jack's hand slip down to his hip, where his own stun-gun was concealed. He quickly put his arms back around her, and shifted her weight slightly, hoping that she would get the message not to do that.

"So what're you doing here, then? How'd you get in?" the second man demanded angrily.

Ianto bit his lip, and averted his eyes from both men. In reality it was to hide the fact he was lying, but he hoped they interpreted it as embarrassment, "Place looked deserted, and the back door was open. We... ah..." and it didn't take much effort at all for the thoughts crossing his mind to make him blush convincingly.

"Thought you said she was ill?" the first man asked sceptically.

Ianto glared up at him, "I'm sorry, maybe you didn't notice the great big half-dissected creature behind you, reeking of blood and pain?" he sniped. Jack shuddered at his wording, which really only added to his story, even though he hated to think how his words were affecting her. "I'd have thought that would be enough to make anyone sick." He tightened his grip around Jack, running his fingers through her hair gently, in an attempt to apologise for saying these things.

"So who's been firing off guns, around here, then?" the second man asked, still glaring suspiciously at them both.

Ianto scowled, as the two men looked at each other, expressing their confusion. He had to make a great effort to resist the urge to say, 'Well you two certainly look like the type for that.' On the bright side, they seemed convinced by his story. He just hoped that they didn't feel the need to eliminate witnesses, however innocent the witnesses in question may seem.

x x x


	9. We Don't Sniff The Subetheric Resonator

x x x

**Chapter 9: We Don't Sniff The Subetheric Resonator**

x x x

Tosh watched from one of the upper levels, hidden by the catwalk and halfway behind a crate. She had an excellent view, it could even be thought of as a good sniper position, if necessary. She saw Owen and Victor, at the far end of the room, circling around the creature's head, towards Jack, Ianto and the other two men. Gwen was just out of sight behind them, according to her comms.

She had heard the three of them talking on their way up here, about what would happen to Victor's brothers, Greg and Dale, when they were stopped. Retcon, and some forged charges of cruelty to animals- of the non-alien variety, of course- were the best Owen had thought of on the fly, and that was probably exactly what would happen, in the end, too.

Either way, this was it, now. All the pieces were moving into place.

Only these two remained, to be incapacitated, and then Torchwood would have the place to themselves. She still wasn't exactly sure how they were going to send this creature home, but one problem at a time. Nevermind the fact that the required rift calculations were running through her head, as she waited here... it calmed her and cleared her mind to think of them, even if this was not the time.

"Hey, Dale." Victor called. Tosh saw Owen and Gwen lurking now behind a stack of crates, as their new ally- so she hoped- approached his brothers. "What's goin' on?" he asked innocently. And he didn't sound like he was trying to warn them of anything, not like he was deliberately expressing duress of any kind.

"Got a couple of intruders, nothing we can't handle." the man holding the gun- so that would be Dale, she presumed- answered. The acoustics were excellent in here, Tosh didn't even need to strain to hear him, and he was speaking at a normal volume, "You go on, get back to playing nurse, now." he added in a truly condescending tone.

Victor frowned, but nodded, approaching the alien with the exceptionally large needle he held. She assumed it was sedative... the plan was still to keep it alive, whichever side Victor was on.

She glanced down at Owen, noting Gwen's absence, and scanned the area quickly, spotting her moving around the far side of the alien, to surround the bad guys. Jack was still seemingly incapacitated, but at this point Tosh considered that it could be an act. Make the enemy underestimate your numbers, and/or the threat you pose.

Tosh watched with a frown, as Victor injected the sedative into the alien's side, near the gaping wound. Both of his brothers now had their backs to him, paying their full attention to Jack and Ianto. The alien keened weakly, as the needle penetrated its hide, and Tosh cringed in sympathy. She had always hated needles, too... watching that needle being stuck into the creature made her feel queasy in a way that the pools of blood on the ground failed to achieve.

"Freeze!" Gwen shouted out, stepping into full view at the far side of the alien from where Tosh was staked out, "Drop your weapons, now!"

"We've got your surrounded." Owen added, also showing himself. He was on the same side of the two armed men as Victor, but held back far enough that if Victor tried to turn against them, Owen could still cover him.

Both men looked around, but Dale did not lower his gun, "You're with this lot, aren't you?" he asked coldly, directing the question to Jack and Ianto. Ianto shook his head, immediately, "All you interlopers are gonna put _your_ weapons down, or I shoot the girl!" he called out, aiming the gun specifically at Jack.

Ianto shook his head again, "You don't want to do that." he said, in a tone that managed to fall perfectly between warning, threat and pleading.

Gwen held her gun firmly, trained on Dale, undeterred. Owen, on the other hand, lowered his gun slightly, "Just calm down, we can talk about this reasonably." Gwen frowned, confused by Owen's immediate acquiescence. Tosh was unsure of it, too. They had no reason to hesitate, Jack was the perfect hostage, because in a worst-case scenario at least she wouldn't stay dead.

"Yeah, right." Dale growled, stepping towards Jack. He grabbed the collar of her coat, pulling her to her feet at gunpoint. She barely managed to stay standing. As soon as Jack was pulled from his arms, Ianto stood slowly, holding his hands out to the sides to show he wasn't holding any weapons. "You all think we're stupid, huh?" Dale snapped, "Couldn't bear to see us making money, right. Fancy some for yourselves, huh? Thought we'd be a pushover."

Owen snorted, "Yes, we want in on the butchering of an innocent creature. I don't think." he snapped derisively, "We're here to put a stop to this atrocity, not become a part of it."

x x x

The pain was receding, now... Jack was able to focus more easily. Dale held her with one arm around her waist, but he wasn't paying attention to her. She wasn't a threat, in his opinion. She continued to lean slightly against him, as if she wasn't regaining her strength and awareness as the sedation began to ease the pain that the alien had project to her.

"You gonna shoot me if I throw up on your shoes?" she mumbled. Dale's answer was to press the gun more persistently to the side of her head. "Take that as a yes, then." she muttered.

"Just let her go." Ianto said, holding his hands up in a sign of surrender, "If you want a hostage, take me instead."

"What are you doing?" Gwen snapped at Ianto, confused.

"Stay back!" Dale snapped, pointing the gun at Ianto now. He stopped, hands still raised, watching the two men carefully. Greg still hadn't said or done much, just standing behind his brother, glaring around. He seemed either unarmed or at least unwilling to stand against these odds.

"Put the gun down!" Owen ordered.

"You're outnumbered, Dale." Gwen pointed out, calm but commanding, "There's nowhere to run."

"Back off, all of you!" Dale snapped, tensing and shaking very slightly. Stress and panic. If she hadn't been held against him, it would have been a lot harder to noticed... but Jack literally felt- with no need for extra-sensory perception- the breaking point, an instant before he would fire the gun. She turned into him, catching his right arm and throwing his aim way off.

He was so surprised that the gun fell from his hand before he could even register what had happened. The single shot that he had managed to fire struck the wall, harmlessly. She felt a jolt of fear from the alien, but it was too weakened by the sedatives to really affect her, now. With practiced moves, she wrestled Dale down onto his stomach, and pulled his hands behind him, cuffing him quickly and efficiently.

Ianto had drawn his own gun now, and he trained it on Greg, while Gwen cuffed him as well. Owen watched Victor carefully for a second, then moved to cuff him too. Jack only heard his whispered words because of the commlink, "Don't want your brothers calling you a rat, do we, mate?"

Jack smiled weakly, not actually standing up as she moved away from Dale, allowing Ianto to drag the man to his feet. Instead she leaned against the alien's side, exhausted.

"You were faking." Dale accused her, stunned.

She laughed, pained, but still she found that funny, "No, I really wasn't."

x x x

Jack had all-but passed out, curled up on the ground, leaning against the alien creature, while her mind drifted. The alien was also barely conscious, although her attempts to project comforting emotions did seem to be helping somewhat.

She was vaguely aware of the rush of movement around her, as time seemed to slow to a stop just for them. Before she knew it, the warehouse was cleared, evidence burned, culprits taken away to have their memories removed and criminal charges filed against their amnesiac asses. It made her smile faintly to think that they would at least be punished for this, even if they couldn't remember their crimes.

The only comfort that seemed to appease the alien, however, was the promise that she wouldn't allow them to return, that she wouldn't let them hurt him again. Revenge never even crossed his mind. Too innocent, even after all he had been through... she almost envied him that.

"Jack?" Ianto's voice cut through the haze in her mind, and she looked up at him, expectantly. "Everything's been taken care of, we just need to find a way to send the alien home... and to look after it in the meantime." a faint smirk flashed across his face, "You know, Owen's gonna pitch a fit when he finds out you're telepathic and never told him."

"You still haven't told Owen that you know about..." she trailed off, but Ianto knew what she was referring to. The fact she was pregnant.

"Why should I?" Ianto asked, eyes wide in false innocence, "He'll try to throw it in my face, one of these days, I want to see the look on _his_ face when I tell him I knew all along."

Jack laughed, nodding, "Yeah, I'd pay to see that." she agreed.

A faint whine from the alien... Ianto's presence was making him nervous. She reached a hand up to touch the leathery hide just in front of her, trying to tell him that he was safe. Ianto was a friend, had helped chase the bad men away, and wouldn't hurt him. When she felt his acceptance of this, she glanced up at Ianto, seeing the confused and quizzical look on his face.

"You were making him nervous." she said simply, "But it's okay now."

Ianto frowned, half amused and half concerned, "Are you sure it's healthy for you to be communicating so closely with it?"

"Yeah, I think it's okay." she said, sitting up a little straighter, but still leaning against the alien, "But... I really need to do something about my own empathic ability. After what happened today, I can't afford not to learn to control it better."

"What can you do?" Ianto asked with a frown.

"Ask for help." Jack pulled out her mobile phone, and pressed a speed-dial button.

"From who?" Ianto asked.

x x x

Ianto had settled on the ground, leaning against a crate, facing Jack, while they waited. She had called someone, seemed surprised at who had answered the phone, and then immediately requested that they come to her location 'five minutes ago'. Then she had laughed, no doubt along with them. Right now, though, she was paying more attention to the alien than to Ianto.

But he refused to leave them alone.

Owen had stopped by, with another dose of ketamine, and Jack had spent about ten minutes soothing and cajoling the alien into accepting that the 'little needle' would make the rest of the pain go away for a while. That it would help until the wounds healed.

Ianto idly considered that she really would make a great parent, judging by the way she dealt with the scared alien... and it was a shame she wouldn't be able to help raise her own child.

Another fifteen minutes passed after Owen left, with promises of bringing food with him, next time he came by, in a couple of hours' time. Jack had almost fallen asleep, resting her head against the alien's side, if the creature was of a suitable size he was sure she'd be hugging it protectively.

But then, Jack suddenly looked up towards the front entrance of the warehouse, "Oh... he's here."

"How can you tell?" Ianto asked, standing immediately, anyway.

"The righteous indignation and fury." Jack answered, staring at the doorway, "Think I'd be able to feel it a galaxy away."

"What have you done?!" a voice- which Ianto instantly recognised, even though he had only heard it once before, at Canary Wharf- echoed through the warehouse, as the man attached to that voice stormed into the main room.

This was the first time that Ianto had met the Doctor... and he now understood why Torchwood One, and so many hostile aliens over the years, feared this man. And Jack had been right... he was seriously pissed off, right now.

Jack looked up at the Doctor, and he froze, stunned. Tears were running down her face, and she was obviously hurt and upset, "We stopped them. We're trying to help him." she said, her voice cracking as she spoke. She turned away from his intense stare, hiding her face against the alien creature. It keened lightly as she did this... Ianto wondered if it was actually trying to comfort her, in return for her kindness to it.

The Doctor stared at her for several seconds, his anger dissipating very quickly, now. He turned sharply to face Ianto, who instinctively straightened up as the Doctor's attention fell upon him, stepping forward to position himself between the Doctor and Jack, protective of her. "What happened here?" the Doctor asked, no longer showing any sign of anger... just sadness.

"We think it came through the rift, into the ocean. Beached itself, and was unfortunate enough to find a group of people who thought they could use it for profit." Ianto said, unable to meet the Doctor's eyes as he spoke, "They were cutting it up and selling the meat." he saw, out of the corner of his eye, when Jack shudder at the words.

The Doctor reacted to that as if he had been physically struck, stepping back and closing his eyes in a pained way. Jack, was the one to break the horrified silence, "I don't know what you see in our species, sometimes, Doctor." she muttered darkly.

The Doctor shook his head, seeming a bit unsure of himself as he approached the alien, and tentatively reached out to touch it. It seemed to reel away from him, and he pulled his hand back, looking down at Jack in surprise, "Do you know what this is?" he asked.

"No idea." Jack said, looking up at him once more. Her head still rested against the alien's side, and one palm was held flat- as if glued there- to its leathery skin.

"It's a Cenaran whale." the Doctor crouched down so he was at eye-level with her, as he spoke, "They're sentient." she nodded, showing that she knew that already, "All-but extinct. There are a few dozen of them in a preserve, in the Alteran sector... Cenaria was part of the Kasterberous system. Destroyed, before the war was locked out."

Jack looked completely stunned by this information, "I had no idea..." she whispered, but he shook his head, not wanting to be interrupted yet.

"They're empathic, but I'm sure you've figured that out." Jack nodded, and he continued, "They imprint on the first active empath they encounter. I didn't think you were so strong-willed, Captain... but he seems to think you're his mother."

Jack blinked in shock, shaking her head and hiding her face once more. Ianto was certain that if she hadn't just been through so much, she might be laughing at the suggestion. He knew it was ironic, and amusing on some level, but he also couldn't find the will to laugh, "Is there any way of returning it to its home?" he asked.

The Doctor looked up at Ianto, frowning as he seemed to be trying to figure out whether he'd seen him somewhere before or not, but then he shook his head, "I can take him to the Alteran sector... but his home is long gone."

Ianto had picked up on the choice of pronouns from Jack earlier, but still found himself having trouble using the correct term for the alien. "Wait, how can Jack be the first empath it- he has met?"

"Because he's still a child." Jack said turning to look up at Ianto, "That's why he was still growing, when they found him." Ianto stared in horror at this revelation. As if cutting up an animal wasn't bad enough... a sentient being even worse... but a child. "He was crying out, begging me to help him, protect him. I couldn't just leave him alone in the dark."

Something about the way she said that made Ianto think she was talking about telepathically rather than literally. It certainly wasn't that dark, here. Really, it was very bright, at the moment. But he was still in shock, and couldn't quite process what she meant by it.

The Doctor, on the other hand, understood perfectly, "You need to tell him that he can trust me. I'll make sure he's safe."

But suddenly Jack's eyes cleared, and she looked right at the Doctor, "I need you, too. It's not just him. I need either you, or the psychopath, to teach me to block out emotions." she said it very quickly, as if afraid she'd back out of asking for help if she didn't say it now.

"The Psychopath? I'm sure he'd love that title." the Doctor muttered sarcastically. Jack smiled, a false smile but it still answered the morbid joke. "But he's gone. Double-crossed me, and even-" the Doctor hesitated, deciding it best not to go into details.

Jack frowned, clearly wondering what the Doctor had withheld from her, but then she insisted, "We almost failed in our mission to save this alien today, because I couldn't think past the pain he was projecting. I need to learn to block it one way or another, Doctor."

The Doctor nodded slowly, "I can teach you." he said, thoughtfully. Then his tone became brighter as he suggested, "Come with me, we'll visit the Alteran sector, help your new friend here settle in. It's the perfect place to practice empathic communications and defences, really." he sounded so very enthusiastic about the idea. Might have been positively cheerful if not for the morbid situation.

Ianto bristled at it. The Doctor was trying to take Jack away, again. God knows where, God knows for how long, and Ianto _hated _ it. Last time had been bad enough, but to abandon Ianto- and Torchwood- a second time, now, for this unpredictable man... he would never forgive Jack for it, if she accepted the offer.

Jack hesitated, looking right at Ianto, now, frowning. She must have read his mind... emotions... did it really make a difference, in this case?

The Doctor followed her gaze, "Oh, your friend can come too, if you want." he offered.

Ianto's eyes narrowed as the Doctor held his cold stare calmly, all-but smiling back at him. Did he know what Ianto was thinking, too? Did he understand that the word 'friend' wasn't right? Did he care? And did he recognise the jealousy Ianto felt for him?

The Doctor frowned slightly, the barely perceptible tilt forward of his head, the deliberate but barely slower than normal way he blinked. It was an affirmative. Yes, he knew.

"Last time you took Jack away, you didn't get back for months." Ianto observed coldly, "I'd hate to miss an opportunity to prevent an apocalypse, just for some sight-seeing." he held the Doctor's gaze, and saw the way he flinched at the choice of words, "It would be better if you visited us, instead, Doctor."

The Doctor seemed to back down a little, glancing to Jack for confirmation of Ianto's request. She nodded firmly. He attempted to smile, but failed terribly, "I usually avoid Torchwood, as a rule." he said, his false cheer and his words faltering slightly, "Last time I was there..."

"Bad things happened." Ianto said very coldly. He deliberately thought of Lisa... wondered if the Doctor was _that_ good at reading people. The way he cringed, either something equally bad had happened to him, or he actually did sense what Ianto was thinking.

"But... for this... unique situation." the Doctor continued, "I think I could make an exception."

x x x

A few days had passed. Gwen was still recovering from the bullet-wound, and oh how Rhys had ranted about her injury in the line of duty. There had been a... disagreement, over the subject of Rhys, but Gwen had won the argument and Rhys still remembered that Torchwood existed. For now.

The Doctor had taken the Cenaran whale away... how he had actually done this, none of them knew, but it was gone now and they had been assured that it- he- was happy in his new home.

Now, Ianto was watching as the invisible lift descended.

"Two in the same week." Owen muttered, staring up at the two people standing there. One was Jack, the other was the Doctor.

"I thought the Doctor was... well, I thought he looked different." Tosh observed, also watching the lift, with a slight frown.

"According to UNIT records, his appearance can change quite drastically." Ianto informed her.

"How'd you get into UNIT records?" Tosh asked, surprised.

"I know everything, remember?" Ianto asked, faking a smile for her. Tosh's eyes narrowed, sulking slightly at the thought that he could get classified information that she couldn't hack into... but then she shrugged, and they all returned their attention to the Doctor and Jack.

"Well, this is it. Torchwood." Jack announced, stepping down off the lift and turning on the spot with her arms wide, to face the Doctor. She was grinning proudly at him, as if asking his opinion. Like a child showing off finger-painting... or a cat bringing in a dead bird, if the Doctor's expression was anything to go by.

"It's... not what I expected." the Doctor conceded, nodding.

Myfanwy chose this moment to soar overhead, and perch up on a high railing in plain view, crying out in what Ianto had guessed was an excited way. Happy, even.

"You've got a pteranodon?" the Doctor asked, suddenly brightening up as he saw her, "Oh, she's beautiful."

If this had been anyone but the Doctor, Ianto would have wondered how he knew exactly what breed of pterosaur she was... or that she was female, for that matter. But really, he knew better than to be surprised at all. For all Ianto knew, the Doctor might have personally met her in the cretaceous era, before she had fallen through the rift. Ianto _had_ read all the files, and probably knew the Doctor's history on Earth better than most people, save perhaps the ones who he allowed to travel with him.

"Her name's Myfanwy." Ianto offered, stepping forward to greet the Doctor formally. Something about his compliment to their pterodactyl did dispel some of Ianto's dislike for the Doctor... only some, though. He glanced up at her, "I think she likes you... she usually threatens newcomers."

"How d'you tell the difference, anyway?" Owen grumbled, "It all sounds like squawking, to me."

This from the man who was fixated on understanding the Weevils... but Ianto didn't say that one out loud, simply shot Owen a cold glare, before returning his attention to the Doctor, "I don't believe we've been properly introduced. I'm Ianto Jones."

The Doctor nodded, smiling, "Nice to meet you, Ianto Jones." he said brightly.

"This is Owen Harper, our resident medical expert." Jack added, and Owen waved in the Doctor's direction. "Gwen Cooper, police correspondent and profiler." Gwen, who was the only one to remain sitting- on Owen's orders, no doubt- smiled brightly, also waving, "And I believe you've already met our technical specialist, Toshiko Sato."

Tosh blinked nervously, but the Doctor beamed at her, "Oh yes, we met over a fake pig-alien in London!" he cheered.

"So that _was_ you?" Tosh said, a little confused, "You look... different."

The Doctor shrugged, "It happens." he said dismissively, adding in a muttered undertone, "More often than you'd think."

Jack laughed at that, but then returned to her best commanding tone as she announced, "Alright guys... the Doctor, Ianto and I are going to be discussing something very important in my office, so only interrupt us if the world's ending again." and with a sweeping wave of her hand, she gestured up the steps towards her office, "This way, Doctor."

Ianto heard the suspicious and intrigued mutterings of the rest of the team, as he followed them, but wasn't bothered by it. He was just happy not to be left out. He was absolutely certain that he would have lost his mind with jealousy, if he'd been left to wonder what the two of them were up to alone in Jack's office.

As soon as the door closed, Jack spoke, "That's pretty much why I invited you, Ianto." she said simply.

The Doctor frowned at her, for this, "You know it's rude to read people like that?" he asked.

"Yeah, but I can't control these empathic abilities, which _is_ why you're here, isn't it?" she retorted, grinning.

"And I really don't mind." Ianto said, smiling faintly.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "You are absolutely impossible, you know that, don't you, Jack?"

"In more ways than one, and I'm proud of it, too." she answered brightly. Ianto grinned at the slightly irritated look on the Doctor's face, for that.

"Well, then." the Doctor said quickly, trying to regain control of the situation, "Telepathic and empathic shielding 101. Let's get started, shall we?"

x x x

It had lasted all morning. Ianto had almost fallen asleep, and might have succeeded if the Doctor had just stopped babbling on about nothing for _one_ minute. It was a spectacularly efficient way of dispelling his jealousy, really. This guy could be the greatest genius in the universe, but that did not change the fact that he was _boring!_ The only possible thing Ianto could imagine Jack seeing in him was advice for situations that he (or she) didn't understand... like right now.

On the bright side, Jack had said that the lessons were helping. That definitely made this all worthwhile.

Finally, Ianto had fled the room, talking about getting lunch. So naturally, the entire team made a point of being available for this lunch break, and demanding of food, too. Just to get a chance to really meet the Doctor.

Ianto had ordered pizza- all meat-free, of course- for everyone. And, on Jack's request about a week ago, KFC. Jack usually hated KFC ("It's disgusting, more skin and bone than food, and I know someone who swore he found a mouse in it, once!") but Ianto had a good guess as to why she wanted it now.

That, and a large bowl of fruit managed to spread itself out over the conference table, where everyone met up now as Ianto handed out the coffee. And one tea. The Doctor had quite adamantly refused to so much as try his coffee, and Ianto took this as a somewhat personal offence... but he chose not to react to it, for now at least.

The instant that Owen entered the room, he pointed at the KFC bucket and demanded, "What's that doing here?!"

Jack, who had already started eating the chicken, glared up at him, "It's called lunch." she said sharply.

Owen scowled, "Thought we were gonna be vegetarian for a while?" he grumbled, while the Doctor reached for the fruit bowl.

"Touch those bananas and risk losing another hand, Doctor!" Jack snapped, pointing threateningly at the alien in question, who wisely backed away. As if to emphasise her point, Jack reached forward and took all three of the things for herself, hoarding them where he couldn't reach them.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow curiously at this, but said nothing.

"And Owen." Jack said sharply, "Did it look like chicken to you?" she didn't wait for a reply before quickly answering for herself, "No, it didn't." before quite adamantly taking another bite of the chicken. The Doctor shook his head, utterly unconcerned by this conversation. Even Ianto was a bit uneasy about it, but he chose not to speak now.

"Anything can taste like chicken." Owen observed rather sharply, clearly unhappy with Jack's deliberate attempt to ignore the issue. There was a principle to this matter, and it was clear that Owen took it seriously, "I've heard stories that human tastes like chicken."

The Doctor gave Owen a disgusted look, but Jack quite dismissively shook her head and muttered, "No... really doesn't."

Everyone stared at Jack, now.

Everyone except the Doctor. He kept his head down and pretended that he wasn't even there, now. Jack continued to eat her lunch... with a bit too much enthusiasm really. As if she was starving. After a few seconds, she seemed to noticed the tense silence, and looked up. She blinked once, and asked, a bit defensively, "What?"

"You... just implied you know what human meat tastes like." Gwen observed, wide-eyed and horrified. Ianto flinched slightly as their thoughts were put into words. It was a very disturbing thought, and it brought back very unpleasant memories of his first active mission with the team.

Jack's eyes darted briefly to the Doctor, who was very efficiently avoiding looking at her.

She then rolled her eyes and said quite bluntly, "A certain psychopath who shall remain nameless- for more than one reason-" and the Doctor actually snorted- or possibly choked- at that, as Jack continued, "-got bored with murdering me, and decided to play Hannibal Lector. Unless I wanted to add starvation to the list... well."

She shrugged and took another bite of the chicken... while Tosh slowly lowered her slice of pizza back to the box, and stared at it with nausea, as if she had just been told the food was poisoned. Gwen frowned deeply, muttering to herself, "That's disgusting."

Ianto remained stoic, doing his best to hide his true feelings on the matter. At least in front of the others, he would admit to Jack how he felt, later. It was horrible that she had been forced to do such a thing, and he felt sorry for her more than any sense of disgust.

Owen, however, "So what _did_ it taste like, then?"

Ianto, who was sitting directly across the table from Owen, kicked him sharply. This earned him a brief glare, but unfortunately did not detract from the young doctor's morbid curiosity in the slightest, "Is this really appropriate conversation, while we're eating?" Ianto asked coldly.

Jack slowly looked up at Owen, who shrugged slightly. Clearly he still wanted an answer. "I was a bit too busy fighting the instinct to scream in pain from the gaping hole in my leg, where he'd acquired the meat in question, to worry about how it tasted." Jack hissed at him. This actually succeeded in making Owen cringe, and back down completely.

Tosh covered her hand with her mouth, and Gwen looked slightly green with nausea. Ianto rolled his eyes, and stood, "I'll just put the pizza in the fridge, we can eat it later when Owen isn't as much of an insensitive jerk."

"That'll take a while, better use the cryo-freeze." Tosh muttered with a weak smile.

Jack shrugged, and continued to eat the chicken, regardless of the previous subject of conversation. After a few minutes of tense silence, it was the Doctor who spoke, "Did you deprive me of the bananas for a reason?" he asked, almost wary of starting up another conversation, and especially on the subject of food.

Jack grinned at him, "Yeah, watching you eat them might give me ideas." she joked. Ianto 'accidentally' hit her head with his elbow, for that remark, as he picked up the empty chicken-bucket from in front of her. She grinned up at him, all-but laughing at his behaviour.

"I think I need to go... analyse some tech." Tosh muttered, quickly getting up to leave.

"I'll help." Gwen said without thinking just how poor an excuse to leave that really was. And both women fled the room, closely followed by Ianto who at least managed not to look like he was fleeing at all.

"Well that was convenient timing." Jack observed idly. "Thanks, Owen, your talent for repelling women has finally proven useful."

"Huh?" Owen asked, confused.

Jack just started peeling one of the bananas, and grinned coldly at the Doctor. She said one word, "Cravings."

The Doctor snorted with laughter, "Oh, I can't wait to see his reaction to that detail!"

"Me either." Jack said, eyes lighting up with humour.

"I'm missing something." Owen muttered, frowning in confusion.

"He really hates bananas." the Doctor explained.

"I'm not usually too fond of them, either." Jack observed pointedly, "Remember Vilengard?"

The Doctor just smiled a bit brighter at that reminder, "I think he has some sort of psychological aversion to them, which may have something to do with the fact that I like them. When he finds out she's craving them while pregnant with his child... I think I can taunt him about it for decades!"

"No, Doctor, you're thinking too small." Jack said, laughing, "I'm not gonna let this one go for centuries."

x x x

Gwen was wandering- leisurely, as was ordered by Owen, no strenuous exercise allowed- across the floor of the Hub, when she saw the Doctor peering very intently at the rift controls. She glanced around, seeing Ianto watching from a balcony, as well, and tilted her head as she met his eyes. Ianto shrugged, and returned to watching the Doctor like a hawk.

Gwen nervously approached this strange alien, "Um... hi." she said nervously, "You know we're not supposed to touch that, right?"

"I was just looking." the Doctor observed, "This is fascinating work here, very innovative for Earth in this century. And it is, really... I don't see any extra-terrestrial technology in here."

"Yeah, well Tosh is good at this sort of thing, she's the one who designed these controls. I think." Gwen said nervously. It was true that the Doctor was just looking (with his eyes, not even touching the tech... although eerily enough he did sniff it) but it still made her feel uneasy. Kind of reminded her of the intense interest that Beth had shown for the same bit of tech.

"She made this all by herself?" the Doctor asked, surprised.

"Well I'm not entirely sure, it was here when I joined Torchwood, but that's what I heard." Gwen admitted.

The Doctor nodded idly, then turned his full attention on Gwen, "Do you feel shivers up your spine when you're close to the rift?" he asked suddenly.

"Well... not really. Maybe a bit." Gwen admitted, uncomfortable with this sudden question. She had never thought that was unusual, and never bothered to mention it to anyone else.

The Doctor nodded thoughtfully, "Like someone walking on your grave?" he grinned faintly.

"...yyeah." she said, drawing out the word nervously.

The Doctor shrugged, "Not at all unusual. Temporal trans-positional psychic displacement. Happens a lot. I just imagined you might notice it more than most."

"Why?" Gwen asked warily.

"You seem more open to that sort of thing." the Doctor tapped the side of his head, "I can't read your mind- well, not without physical contact and your permission anyway- but I'm still psychically perceptive."

"What's it mean then?" she asked.

The Doctor grinned, "Means you're perceptive, too... for a human." he jumped down the three steps from the platform in one go, so that he was standing in front of her now, "Intuitive." he added, as if that might make it make more sense... but then he completely changed the subject, "So! Where's the lovely Toshiko, then? I've been meaning to catch up with her, after last time we met."

x x x

Ianto had been watching the Doctor, while he had spoken to Gwen... and now the alien was making a beeline for Tosh.

Tosh was sitting at her work-desk, going over some notes on her computer. The bit of tech she was trying to cross-reference clearly wasn't on the system, and now she was trying to get her translator program to identify the language on it. The fine writing was in a small and neat square, which did make a change from the complex symbols that usually sprawled over every free space on the average alien artefact.

"Hello, Dr Sato." the Doctor pulled up a chair from the next desk, and sat down on it... backwards, so he was leaning forward onto the back-rest as he faced her.

Tosh smiled weakly, "Oh, that was just so I could get into the investigation." she said quickly, "I'm not really a doctor. I mean, I'm working on a dissertation for a quantum physics degree, but I've been doing that for a few years, now."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I don't have an official degree, either." the alien said, grinning brightly, "You seemed to know enough about that fake pig, though."

Tosh smiled faintly at that, "Owen was supposed to be the one to check that out." she observed idly, "But he was unavailable." If Ianto remembered correctly, Owen had come down with an incredibly severe affliction, that day, which had prevented him from performing his usual duties.

Namely a hangover.

The Doctor shrugged, "I still think you've got a brilliant mind, from what I could tell."

Tosh blushed, "Thank you, Doctor." she said, before nervously asking, "If I may...?" she turned to face him, setting the strange artefact carefully back onto her desk, "How is it that you changed your appearance and voice so drastically, since the last time we met?"

"Oh, well I sort of died." he shrugged nonchalantly.

"I was hoping for a more detailed, possibly technical, explanation." she prodded tentatively. While she would have accepted such an answer from Jack, there was obviously more to it than that.

"Oh, well then." the Doctor paused for a moment before asking, "How technical can you go?"

Tosh's eyes lit up at the question, "Do your worst, Doctor."

It might have been from spending too much time around Jack, but Ianto was certain that there was a slightly flirtatious, and most definitely challenging tone in Tosh's voice there. As if she actually got off on all this technical stuff. Honestly, given what he knew of her, Ianto would not be surprised in the slightest.

"Well, then." the Doctor said, clearly eager to test her... and he launched into a detailed explanation of genetic engineering and DNA manipulation, which had Ianto completely lost within seconds.

Tosh, however, seemed to follow it all... quite intently too. She even asked questions. All the right questions at all the right points, if the Doctor's gleeful answers were any indication.

Ianto did catch a couple of details, as he listened. Such as the fact that this change could only happen when a Time Lord was about to die. It was called Regeneration. They only got to do it twelve times. Although the ability was genetic, they had to be trained to do it.

It was apparently possible for them to choose their new appearance, if they knew what they were doing well enough- if Ianto had to guess by the way the Doctor skirted very quickly over that one, he'd say the Doctor actually wasn't that good- and it was very bad form for those who could choose their appearance to mimic that of anyone else.

The most important bit that he actually got was when Tosh deigned to dumb it down, near the end of the lecture. "So it's not just your appearance, but your personality, too? Rewires your whole brain, without loss of memory or knowledge?" simply asking for clarification, rather than expressing any sign of confusion.

"That's right." the Doctor said with a nod. "You know the whole psychological argument of nature vs nurture? We've got that totally sussed out, because a Regeneration often changes the nature of a Time Lord's mind on a genetic level, but the pre-existing memories and ingrained patterns remain."

Tosh grinned at this, nodding happily, "You seemed a lot more... broody, last time we met."

"Yeah. Well that incarnation was born into a war." the Doctor shrugged, "It worked both ways, that time."

There was an uneasy silence for a minute or so, and Tosh's eyes gradually drifted back to the artefact she had been working on.

The Doctor spotted it, and grinned, "Oh, that's a Denvarian story-lamp." he said brightly, picking it up, pressing two buttons and setting it in the middle of the floor. Soft lights appeared around the room, and began to slowly rotate, projecting what might have been images on the walls. It looked kinda pretty.

"No flat surfaces... not so effective." the Doctor muttered, "But it's sort of like a high-tech shadow-caster... tells fairy tales for kids. I used to have one of these for-" but he stopped talking very suddenly, picked up the spinner-lamp and set it back on Tosh's desk, looking a bit sheepish, "-um... nevermind."

Tosh opened her mouth to ask a question, but the Doctor was already halfway across the room... as if fleeing the scene. Ianto watched Tosh's shocked and amazed stare, but he himself was startled by a soft voice next to him.

"Don't ask him." Jack said quietly, "And please acquire that toy from Tosh, for me, hmm?"

x x x

Owen had spent the rest of the afternoon rather peacefully, doing nothing more productive than filing the report on Gwen's injury. He had failed to persuade her to leave while the Doctor was here, but with great effort had forced a promise out of her that she would take a vacation, for a couple of weeks, as soon as the seemingly friendly- if incredibly weird- alien had left.

Right now, he was just debating between going home and getting drunk, or catching up on the Weevil reports that were piling up, when the alien in question poked his nose into the autopsy room... grinning like a loon.

"Can I help you?" Owen asked in his best falsely polite 'fuck off, I'm busy' tone of voice.

"So you're the team doctor?" the Doctor asked, as he cheerfully wandered into the room, "And from what I gathered at lunch, you're also the second-most insensitive berk I've ever set eyes upon."

"Only second?" Owen asked, sceptically. He put a lot of effort into his insensitive image. Sure, it wasn't exactly an act, but he did exaggerate on occasion. Usually to maintain a sense of distance from those he had to work with.

The Doctor shrugged, "Well I do own a mirror. I'm very rude, me. Funny teeth, too."

Owen just stared at him for a minute, unsure what to make of that completely incongruous statement. While Owen gaped, the Doctor snooped... and Owen just regained his senses in time to stop the strange man from starting to play with one of the alien devices that had been sitting out. It was just a scanner, nothing dangerous, but still!

"Oh, where'd you get that from?" the Doctor asked, as Owen snatched it out his hands.

"Fell through the rift." Owen answered bluntly and honestly.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Owen, "You do know what it does, right?"

"It's a scanner, kinda like a handheld MRI... except better." Owen said sharply.

He was surprised to see the alien nod, grinning brightly, "Yep! Arcturian bio-scanner. Brilliantly useful, and also quite rare. You're lucky you found it. Worth a fortune to buy legitimately, even in the Taurus nebula... and that's the best place in the universe for a good bargain." And even as he said that, he was snooping again!

Owen tried to find words, but was sure he was just impersonating a goldfish with the opening and closing of his mouth. But by then the Doctor had picked up another bit of alien tech, and Owen jumped in horror as he saw what it was, "Oi, careful with that!" he shouted.

"What's it doing in the medical bay?" the Doctor asked, grinning as he examined the item.

Owen glared, eyes bugging out in mild fear that this overly nosey alien might press the wrong button at any moment, "Alright, look, just put it down before you put an eye out. We don't know what it does yet, but I thought it might be some sort of medical instrument."

"Hmmm..." the Doctor hummed, but finally conceding to Owen's demand, and setting it down, "I suppose... not what it was intended for, but yeah. Maybe..."

"So what is it, then, genius?" Owen snapped irritably.

"Well, it's a cooking tool. Sort of like a portable microwave, except it uses point-singularity technology. It was invented on Rigel Seven by some guy who made it his life's work to create the perfect souffle." He tilted his head to one side, still staring at the object, "I guess at higher and finer settings, it could be used for surgery. Not very efficiently, though."

Owen pulled a disgusted face, "Alright, alright." he grumbled, conceding on the still very fresh moral point that cooking and medical stuff should be kept quite completely separate, "It's still dangerous if you press the wrong button."

"Oh, I quite agree." the Doctor said with a nod, turning to grin at Owen, "Wouldn't want to leave it lying around where just anyone could play with it, would you?"

x x x

"He has very efficiently- and in my opinion deliberately- upset all three of them." Ianto told Jack warningly, "Gwen's worried about his suggestion that she's unusually sensitive to the rift. Tosh is very disappointed that her latest bit of tech is apparently a children's toy. And from what I caught on the comms, Owen's singularity scalpel is actually meant to be used for baking."

Jack chuckled faintly at that last one, "He probably wants me to kick him out." she muttered, watching as the Doctor left the medical bay, looking around quite purposefully, "He hates Torchwood for what happened at Canary Wharf." she shot a brief glance at Ianto, who nodded sharply, also watching the Doctor through the window of Jack's office.

"But he doesn't want to be the one to say he wants to leave." Ianto observed idly. It was quite clear to anyone who chose to watch the Doctor's behaviour so closely, as Ianto had since the alien had arrived.

"He ran away from me, once." she said quietly, "Because my immortality frightened him. He's time-sensitive... I shouldn't exist, and he instinctively sees that as wrong." she sighed, "He doesn't want me to think he's abandoning me again."

Ianto gave Jack a concerned look, surprised by this admission, but then he quickly reverted to his usual dark humour, "Well if he touches the coffee machine, I'm going to kick him out myself." he observed pointedly, as they watched the Doctor make his way towards the kitchen area.

Jack smirked faintly, "Two can play this game. I won't send him away." she looked up at Ianto, "You go and tell him he's allowed to leave."

Ianto smiled just a bit too brightly, "With pleasure, sir." and he turned and left Jack's office.

It took Ianto ten seconds to walk across the Hub floor and into the kitchen area. Luckily for the Doctor, the coffee machine remained untouched.

The moment Ianto stepped into the room, the Doctor looked up from where he had been snooping through the cooking supplies, "Half expected to find something out of its right time, in here too." he observed with a smile, "Even the coffee machine looks normal, and after what I've heard, that must make you very, very good." Ianto frowned at the strange side-ways compliment, and was even more annoyed by it when the Doctor turned back to his investigation of various cupboards, and continued to mutter, "Then again, I suppose you'd need to be for Jack to..." trailing off at the end.

"To what?" he snapped a bit irritably.

"Oh, nothing!" the Doctor said quickly. Ianto stared at him coldly, clearly showing his disbelief on his face. After a few seconds, the Doctor conceded, "To want to stick around with just you." he said, sounding like he was being far too tactful. Deliberately not saying exactly what he was thinking.

Ianto rolled his eyes, "You make it sound like he used to be the universe's biggest slut." he hissed angrily.

"Well... I wouldn't have worded it that way..." the Doctor muttered, a bit defensively.

"Are you deliberately trying to piss us all off?" Ianto asked bluntly.

The Doctor turned back around to face Ianto once more, very slowly, "I'll admit this particular incarnation isn't good at tact." he said, frowning at Ianto, "I was just making observations, and ended up saying the wrong thing, you'd be amazed how often that happens. It's usually why I keep my mouth shut when I sense personal emotions from others."

"What sort of personal emotions?" Ianto asked, curiously.

"Well, Toshiko's crazy about Owen, for a start." the Doctor said, leaning back against the counter, giving a vague impression of a cornered animal looking for an alternative escape route, while Ianto was still standing in the doorway.

"That's pretty blatant." Ianto noted, shrugging, "To everyone but Owen, it seems."

"Jack used to have a crush on me, when we first met." the Doctor continued.

"Also obvious." Ianto said, making an effort to keep the anger out of his voice.

"But he'd gotten over it by the time he found me again. In fact, he was pretty mad at me." Ianto hadn't realised this part. In fact, he'd been certain that the reason Jack had gone looking for the Doctor was because he still had feelings for the Time Lord. "Easier to turn a blind eye to that sort of thing than admit I'm that much of a jerk, though."

"So why admit it to me?"

"Because you're the same. You hide your real feelings, too." the Doctor smiled faintly, "So's Owen, but his mask _is_ the jerk, so no use talking to him."

Ianto laughed at this, but then quickly shook his head, "You know you don't have to stick around here, if you don't want to."

"Yeah. Kinda making me uncomfortable, to be honest."

"Again, that's pretty obvious."

The Doctor smiled sadly, "Is Jack okay with me leaving?" he asked, only serving to prove Jack right that the Doctor felt guilty about abandoning him before.

"She's the one who told me to get rid of you." Ianto said, but he said it in a joking and almost playful tone, now, "Before you ruin all of the fun Tosh gets out of analysing alien tech, Gwen pitches a fit, or Owen tries to kill you."

The Doctor laughed nervously, "Yeah, wouldn't want that. I'm not supposed to regenerate again for another year or so, according to..." but he trailed off once more.

"Who?" Ianto asked curiously.

"It's a very long story, and I hate prophecies at the best of times." the Doctor smiled weakly, "Rather make my own destiny, anyway."

"I agree with that." Ianto said with a curt nod and a faint smile.

"I'll leave, then?"

Ianto nodded, "Probably for the best. And I wish you many long years wearing that face and accidentally pissing people off."

The Doctor grinned brightly at that, nodding in thanks, for both the genuine amicable farewell, and for the light-hearted, jokingly insulting way he'd said it. "You will see this face again, that I can promise you." he said, before stepping past Ianto, to leave the Hub.

Ianto wasn't sure whether to take that as a warning of a future that the time-travelling alien had already been a part of, or just an equally snarky way of saying goodbye? He supposed it could easily have been both.

x x x


	10. Memory Is A Very Delicate Thing

x x x

**Chapter 10: Memory Is A Very Delicate Thing**

x x x

It was a Monday morning. And Ianto couldn't help but be fully aware of that fact as he walked into the tourist office.

It always seemed to him that mindless infuriations usually hit like a ton of bricks on Mondays. Mostly, he blamed Owen for that. Specifically, Owen's perception of weekends and alcohol.

He wandered down the corridor into the Hub, and began preparing the office for the others. He always got in at least half an hour before anyone else.

He set about his usual tasks of sorting out all the files left out from overtime, the previous night, then went down to the lower levels to feed Myfanwy, and checked on Janet as well. Owen thought he was her favourite, but she always seemed to growl a great deal less around Ianto, which he was rather smug about.

By the time he was done with this, he realised that the others would be due in, in about ten minutes. He set the coffee machine to start, and went back out into the main room of the Hub to check that he hadn't missed anything important.

"Hello, Ianto." a voice said behind him. Ianto turned around to see a stranger standing there, bold as you please, as if he thought he belonged in the middle of a top secret underground base.

"Who are you?" Ianto demanded, frowning at the stranger.

"I'm Adam." the man answered, reaching out to touch Ianto's shoulder. Ianto took a step back. Complete strangers and his personal space were not to be mixed. He didn't deal with it well. The stranger frowned at him, now meeting his eyes with an intense gaze, "I've been working here for three years, remember." and this time he did make contact with Ianto's shoulder.

Which caused him to freeze. Reality faded for a moment, spinning and blending with something _else_, and he felt certain there was something missing... a gaping hole in his chest that he had never felt before, and a burning in the back of his mind.

Adam's touch on his shoulder was a comfort... yes, he knew this man. Adam had been there, along with Tosh, Owen and Suzie, when Jack had first brought Ianto into Torchwood Three. He remembered talking to Adam. Remembered fighting Weevils and other monsters, with Adam at his side. And of course he knew exactly how the man took his coffee.

Ianto nodded, coming as close to a smile as he usually got when Jack wasn't in the room, "Of course I remember."

"Here, there's still some files in Tosh's outbox. Let me help you with those." Adam offered, quickly moving to do so.

Ianto watched for a moment as Adam walked away from him. Something felt off, but he couldn't put his finger on it. And now he had a headache, too.

x x x

Half an hour earlier, Jack Harkness had woken up. She immediately wished she hadn't. It was Monday, which meant very little to Torchwood employees who usually didn't take weekends off, but rather took the quiet days off regardless of when those days occurred. Still, there was some deeply ingrained psychological aversion to Mondays, in the human collective subconscious.

She attempted to roll over and go back to sleep. Preferably with a pillow over her head, to block out the lights that had just turned on in the main Hub, signalling that Ianto had just come in to start work early, as always.

Unfortunately, this was not to be. Instead of a pillow, her hand found what felt distinctly like a human shoulder. Opening one eye, squinting against the light, proved to her that yes, someone else was in her bed.

This would not be an abnormal occurrence, were it not for the fact that she didn't recognise this guy, and they were _in the Torchwood Hub_... not somewhere Jack ever brought random sexual encounters back to, what with it being a top secret government facility and all. It would really defeat the purpose of having a secret underground alien-hunting hideout if she brought one-night-stands back here. And for that matter, Jack wasn't stupid enough to go out and get so intoxicated as to forget who she had sex with the previous night... and this man was completely unfamiliar.

Now, the man's eyes opened, and he smiled at her, "Oh good, you're awake."

Forgoing all pretence of remaining asleep, Jack sat up, backing away from him, and opening her mouth to demand to know who the hell he was and what he was doing here. But he was too quick, reaching out and touching her right shoulder just at the point where it met her neck.

"It's me, Adam. Remember." he said, as she froze at the touch.

Yes, Jack remembered recruiting Adam as a member of Torchwood, shortly after picking up Suzie Costello. He had been caught on the wrong end of an alien conspiracy, and Jack had offered him the choice of working for Torchwood Three or taking a Retcon. Adam had made a joking reference to The Matrix, and then promptly agreed to work for them.

Jack also remembered that for a twenty-first century human, Adam was very open-minded, and while they would occasionally sleep together he showed no possessive tendencies whatsoever. This had been a good thing, given Jack's nature, and so Jack had accepted it without complaint. Besides, Adam was pretty good in bed and had a thing for leather.

She laughed, almost embarrassed at her reaction to finding him in her bed, "Of course I remember." and he caught her around the waist, pulling her back down onto the bed and kissing her.

Only when Adam's hands started wandering did Jack break the kiss, "You know, we should probably be getting ready for work, now."

Adam looked up at the light that was streaming in through the blinds in the office, "Yeah." he said reluctantly, "We know how jealous your boyfriend gets."

Jack shoved him away, playfully, "He's not my boyfriend." she protested. She hated labels like that... besides, she wasn't really sure what Ianto was to her, at this point, anyway. They were certainly a lot closer, emotionally, than she was to Adam. Which did seem odd, as she had known Adam longer.

Adam grinned at her, and quickly grabbed his clothes. It took him less than a minute to dress and leave the room, with a cheerful announcement that he would go and see if Ianto needed any help with the coffee. Jack called after him, something about him displaying more suicidal tendencies than her if he intended to touch that coffee machine, before the door closed behind him.

She quickly sat up and stretched. Her body felt tense and cold, as she scanned the room for her clothes. She found them in the last place she expected, neatly set over the back of the chair next to the bed, where they usually ended up when Jack slept alone. Whenever Adam or Ianto came in here with Jack, there was a frenzied fight to see who could removes whose clothes first, and it all ended up scattered on the floor. Ianto would pick the clothes up before being able to sleep, but Adam had never displayed any sign of such obsessive-compulsive neatness.

Jack showered slowly, spending some time kneading tense muscles in her shoulders as she did so. This was also unusual. Sex was the best way Jack knew to relieve tension and generally put her in a good mood for the next day or so. Right now, she was grouchy, fully aware of the day's inherent Monday-ness, and very tense... but she did remember a wild and passionate hour of sex with Adam, last night.

Very wild... surely she'd still feel something from that? Shifting from one foot to the other, she moved her body carefully, testing for signs of pain or any other residual echoes of playing the sort of semi-violent games she remembered from the previous night. Nothing, just this tension in her neck and shoulders.

x x x

Once she had finished showering, dressed, and now considered her appearance to be decent, Jack emerged from her office to see Tosh and Owen had arrived already. The two were chatting amicably, and Owen seemed to be openly flirting with Tosh, who looked very happy at this new attention. Jack smiled, her only thought on that subject being, 'about damned time'.

Adam was sitting at one of the computer stations, reading a file and looking utterly disinterested in everything else around him. Ianto was skulking- no, he preferred the word lurking- in a corner, watching everyone else.

Jack watched the scene for a while, listening with a faint smile as Tosh laughed at some joke Owen had made. But her mind was far more preoccupied with Adam. Something had been very wrong this morning, and she still couldn't place why.

With a sigh, she made her way over to the others, and was immediately intercepted by Ianto, bearing the truly priceless gift of coffee, which she took a mouthful of before telling him, "Mmmm, thanks, Ianto. I really needed that." she said, her tone implying something quite obscene about just how drinking that coffee affected her.

Ianto nodded to acknowledge her words, then he quickly and silently returned to his previous stakeout location to continue observing the room. He wasn't talking to her, and hadn't reacted to her insinuation. Was he really jealous?

With a sigh, she held her coffee mug possessively, and returned to her office.

Half an hour later, she reappeared, making her way over to the workstations with a large box in her hands. She had found some tedious donkey-work to inflict upon everyone else. It would make her feel better, in a sadistic sort of way, about the fact that it was a Monday.

"Unlabelled Class D artefacts." she announced, setting the box on the nearest table, "Tosh, I need you to run a full check."

"Sure." Tosh said happily. Owen mock-pouted at their lovely little conversation being broken up by work, but he accepted the fact that it had to be done without any comment.

Directly because of this lack of offence taken, Jack added, "Owen, you can help."

"Happy to." he said, causing her left eye to twitch slightly.

Jack turned on Adam, now, "Adam, I know how much you love audits." she said, faking a smile for him. She knew perfectly well that he hated them.

"Ah, it's gotta be done." Adam said, with a genuine sigh. Good, at least someone was put out by this.

"If you could-" Jack started, but he interrupted her, finishing the sentence perfectly.

"-go through the reports, find out when they came through the rift."

As Adam was saying that, Jack heard the cog-door that led up to the tourist office roll open. Gwen had finally arrived.

"You okay with that?" Jack asked him, slight sarcasm in her tone. If he wasn't, too bad. Someone had to do it, and it was Adam's job.

"I have been for the last three years." he said with forced cheer.

Gwen trotted over to them, taking off her jacket and hanging it up on a railing.

"You're late." Jack announced, smiling at her in spite of that. Gwen had been taking a well-earned vacation with Rhys, while she had been recovering from a gunshot wound. She didn't begrudge Gwen that, in spite of the fact that Jack herself was having a bad day.

"Yes, Paris was lovely, thank you!" Gwen cheered, slight sarcasm in her tone as she happily pretended that Jack had bothered to ask. Then she turned to the others, and froze as she spotted Adam. A second later, she asked, "Who the hell is this?"

Everyone who had been in a good mood seemed to freeze, tense and confused, at this question. Jack herself let the illusion of good humour drop, as well. They all knew Adam, why would Gwen ask such a silly thing?

Adam stood up, walking over to Gwen as he said, "Just 'cause that's what I said to you on your first day." and he put a hand on Gwen's shoulder, "Remember?"

Gwen laughed, "Sorry, couldn't resist. Come here, you!" and she hugged him, "Good to see you."

Everyone relaxed, Tosh and Owen going back to their work, good moods restored as if they had never wavered. Ianto's smile was forced, though, and he glanced at Jack. The tension in Jack's shoulders had returned, and she rubbed idly at the back of her neck, meeting Ianto's gaze with a slight frown, as she did so.

x x x

Jack was heading down to the vaults to look for more artefacts she could add to today's workload, when she passed Janet the Weevil in the holding cells.

Janet growled, low in the back of her throat, standing right up at the door of her cell. Jack ignored it, and Janet snarled louder, hitting the door in an attempt to gain her attention.

"What?" she snapped, turning back to the creature.

Janet growled, a non-threatening tone this time, and put one clawed hand up to the door, so her palm was over one of the air-holes.

Curious, now, Jack stepped closer, "You're acting strangely." she observed, a slight smile on her face as she stopped right in front of the glass.

Janet let out a low whining sound, tilting her head to one side. Very cautiously, Jack reached up one hand to touch the Weevil's palm through the air-hole in the door.

The instant she did, she felt a wave of emotion that was not her own. The Weevil had somehow sensed that she was pregnant... the emotions she felt were positive, almost like the way a human might say congratulations... although it was tinged by envy. Jack smiled at her, "Hey, maybe someday we'll find the right guy for you. Most of them don't seem very nice, though, do they?" she was referring, of course, to the male Weevils they had caught, most of which were vicious bastards.

And Janet seemed to agree with this opinion. Then a flicker in the back of her mind, Janet was concerned as well... something was off in the air, a telepathic echo of some sort, and the Weevil could almost literally smell it.

"I know, girl." Jack said softly, "Wish I knew what."

A soft whimper and the Weevil backed up, all-but purring with approval at Jack's attitude.

"Made a friend, have we?" Gwen asked with a grin as she approached from the direction of the main Hub.

Janet growled at Gwen, and Jack smiled, amused. She got the impression of a pack-mentality, where Janet believed herself to out-rank Gwen and was challenging the human for daring to speak directly to the pack-leader.

"I don't think you can say the same, though." Jack warned, and Gwen gave Janet a wary and slightly defensive look. Janet seemed satisfied with this sense of deference, and ceased growling.

"I was worried." Gwen said to Jack, now, "You seemed... distracted, this morning."

"It was afternoon when you got in." Jack pointed out.

"Still..."

"I'm okay, really." Jack said dismissively. Part of the feeling of unease she felt was that she shouldn't share it. Like it was her own problem to work out, not Gwen's.

Gwen shrugged, dismissing her concern in favour of asking, "So, did you miss me?" there was a playful tone there, almost flirtatious. Jack knew Gwen had fancied him for her first year working at Torchwood... but she also knew that Gwen was engaged to and madly in love with Rhys.

"Were you gone?" Jack joked. It had been two weeks, yes they had noticed that she had been gone. Didn't stop Jack from teasing her about it. She took a couple of quick steps in Gwen's direction, and Gwen turned and ran off, laughing as if they were playing a game. If Jack hadn't been so preoccupied by this feeling of unease, she would have felt the same way.

She stopped at the door and turned back to Janet, but caught sight of something else out of the corner of her eye. Instantly, her full attention was on the young and incredibly familiar boy standing in the middle of the hallway... just staring at her with accusing eyes. She was unaware of how long she stared, but the trance was only broken by a mournful whine from Janet, causing Jack to glance briefly at her instead. She turned back to the boy, only to find he had disappeared.

"What the-?" she asked quietly. Janet repeated her mournful whining sound, and Jack stared at her, "Did you see him?"

The Weevil shook her head sharply, very much like a dog trying to shake water out of its ears. In spite of the negative answer, Jack could tell that she had been aware of something, even if she hadn't actually _seen_ it with her own eyes as Jack had.

She idly wondered how the rest of the team would react to knowing she was now talking to Janet. Owen would be jealous, that was for sure... the Weevils were his pet project, after all.

x x x

Jack had wasted a good few hours down in the vaults. In fact, she had hidden down there for most of the day. It was late enough that she was sort of hoping that the others would have gone home by now. This was not to be, however, as she returned to the main floor of the Hub. Gwen was nowhere to be seen, but Tosh and Owen were working on something, in the corner.

"I'm going to check the logs, cross-reference the data." Tosh informed Owen, before disappearing. Jack had noticed something unusual about Owen, that morning, but had been too determined to cause misery to really figure out what. Now, however... she really did not recall Owen Harper ever wearing glasses.

Ever.

She approached the doorway to the room in which Owen was still working, opening her mouth to ask about it, when she was quite soundly distracted by Adam's arms wrapping around her waist from behind. She smiled, turning her head towards Adam, as he whispered in her ear, "It's quiet today..." he observed, and she could hear the amusement in his voice.

She allowed him to lead her away from the lab where Owen was working, but once they were far enough away, she turned to face him, taking control and pushed him back against the wall, kissing him lightly on the lips. "And you are not allowed to disturb that atmosphere." she murmured, leaning against him as she said it.

She met his eyes with a suggestive smile. This was a challenge, and she would do everything in her power to try to make him cry out. His returned smile showed he understood this perfectly, and accepted her challenge. She pulled him quickly into her office, and as soon as the door closed behind them she pushed him up against it, kissing down his neck as her hands moved down to work on his belt.

She felt him pull her shirt out of her pants, and his hands move up her back underneath her shirt. She bit down on his neck, and heard him hiss as he barely stifled a moan of pleasure. This really was going to be a fun game.

But then the phone rang.

Jack froze, and slowly raised her head from where she had been sucking on Adam's neck, looking over at the phone on her desk. The glare she aimed its way would probably send Daleks fleeing in terror. The phone continued to ring, unperturbed by her resentful glower. Adam was glaring at it, too, though not quite as hatefully.

With a dramatic sigh, she backed away from him, and ran over to pick up the phone.

"Jack Harkness' office." she answered, knowing better than to directly introduce herself, when many of the government-types that called this number still thought she was a man. The number of times in the last four months that she had taken official calls, pretending to be her own secretary, it wasn't even funny anymore.

"Jack." that really did sound like...

"Gwen?" she asked, just to be certain.

"Yeah, someone's broken into my flat." Gwen said quickly, sounding upset and frightened, "He had a key. He knows my name." She heard a voice in the background, but it was too distant to make out. Gwen answered this voice with an angry yell of, "Shut it! Just shut it!"

"You want us to come over there?" Jack asked, trying not to sound exasperated. If the answer was no, there was still a chance that she and Adam could get back to their game, but she was quite certain the answer would be yes.

"Yeah." Gwen answered, "Can you hurry, Jack? He's a nutter."

"Sure, we're on our way." and she hung up the phone, before looking up at Adam, "Gwen needs our help."

Adam didn't look upset by this, shrugging as he adjusted the collar of his shirt to hide the mark she had left on his neck, "No problem, we can finish this later."

x x x

They got to Gwen's place in record time, and she let them up to the flat immediately. Whoever it was that had broken in, she obviously had it under control well enough that they didn't try to stop her from doing this. That was a good sign.

"In here, Jack!" Gwen called out, as they entered the flat. She followed Gwen's voice into the living room, and found her pointing her gun at... Rhys?!

Jack kept her gun aimed in the direction of Gwen's perceived threat, but subconsciously put the safety back on, as she asked, "What's going on, Gwen?"

"You tell me." Gwen snapped, near-hysterically, as she picked up a photograph from the nearest flat surface, and held it up, "Look!"

Jack glanced at the picture. It was of Gwen and Rhys, together, laughing and smiling for the camera. A happy moment that could have jumped out of the lives of absolutely any normal couple. Whenever that had been taken, Jack wondered how Gwen could possibly have forgotten it... it looked like one of those moments that someone with a life like Torchwood would want desperately to cling to for some sense of normality.

"He's put photos of us up." Gwen continued, angrily, "He must have done it while I was at work. He's deluded! He keeps saying he's my boyfriend!"

Jack looked at Gwen as if she was crazy, "He is." she said, looking at Rhys once more to be certain that this wasn't some alien who had made itself _look_ like Rhys. No, she doubted anything could impersonate that air of self-righteous indignance... or the horrified confusion that his mind was all but screaming at Gwen's behaviour. "It's Rhys."

"I've never seen him before in my life!" Gwen yelled, finger still on the trigger... the last thing this couple needed between them was another bullet-wound.

Jack stepped between them, facing Gwen, "You've been with him for years." she said, meeting Gwen's eyes. All the tells of a lie that Jack had been trained by the Agency to avoid allowing anyone to see the difference between... she deliberately dropped her guard and allowed Gwen to see that they weren't there, trying to emphasise the truth of her statement in every way possible.

"See!" Rhys said, grateful that at least someone remembered the truth.

"Give me the gun, Gwen." Jack ordered, holding out her hand.

"No!" Gwen cried as she shook her head, trying to aim past Jack and failing to get a clear line of sight, "He- he grabbed me, Jack. Who knows what he was going to do?"

"How can you say that?!" Rhys demanded, shocked and angry at the accusation.

Jack rolled her eyes and cut across Rhys's words, clearly, "He's your fiance, that's hardly abnormal behaviour." Gwen looked horrified at Jack's dismissal of what seemed to have been a genuine fear... but as she opened her mouth to retort, Jack spoke first, "Why were you late into work this morning, hmm?"

She could feel the sense of mild embarrassment from Rhys at that question, which told her the answer she had been expecting... and now she waited for a stunned Gwen to reply aloud. "I- I don't remember." she said, frowning, "I think I missed my alarm clock?" but there was obvious confusion in her words... she really didn't recall the reason, and was just guessing.

"Why did you take the last two weeks off? Where did you go?" Jack continued.

"Paris. I went to Paris. I-" Gwen hesitated, frowning, "I was recovering from a gunshot... but... maybe I was on too many pain meds." she shook her head, "I don't remember much of it."

"You spent most of the time with me!" Rhys snapped.

"Which- if you don't remember a thing about Rhys- might explain why you can't recall most of your vacation." Jack observed calmly.

"Did your lot do this?" Rhys demanded, suddenly, and Jack could feel his full attention was on her now, "I know what kind of sick games you play. Pills that make you forget, is that what this is, yeah? Are you phasing me out so you can have her all to yourselves?"

Jack turned around to face Rhys, acutely aware that she was turning her back on a fully loaded gun in the hands of a frightened woman who knew that Jack was immortal and saw Rhys as a threat... not a smart move, really, but she still trusted Gwen. Rhys had taken a threatening step towards Jack, and Gwen all-but shrieked, "Stay away from her!"

Jack held up a hand to Gwen, to try to stop her from jumping to conclusions, while still meeting Rhys's accusing gaze, staring him down, and she spoke as calmly as she could, given the tension in the air, "Those pills erase entire periods of time, they're not selective. She remembers Paris, but not you... this isn't something I know how to do, even if I did want to."

Gwen was still aiming the gun at Rhys, and Jack was still in the line of fire... she took a step back towards Gwen, grabbing the gun and turning to meet Gwen's frightened gaze, "Put the gun down, Gwen." she said softly.

Rhys seemed to have taken Jack's words to heart, accepting it enough that he reigned in his anger, "Gwen-" but Gwen's own anger flared up again at the mention of her name, and Jack quickly twisted the gun out of her hand before she could threaten again. When Rhys spoke now, it was far more sad than angry, "Like what Jack said- we're engaged. I bought you that ring you're wearing, sweetheart."

Gwen glowered at the pet-name, but then looked at her hand... and stared, her eyes widening in shock as if she had absolutely no memory of the ring's existence, even though it had been on her finger the entire time. She seemed completely dumbstruck. Jack smiled weakly at Rhys, nodding to tell him that this was probably the perfect thing to have said to Gwen.

At this point, just when Jack was beginning to forget that he had even come here with her, Adam stepped forward, "Why don't you come with me to the Hub." he suggested. Confused, Gwen nodded at this suggestion.

"Who the hell are you?" Rhys demanded irritably, giving Adam a suspicious look.

"He's one of us." Jack said dismissing his confusion.

"We can check you over." Adam continued, completely ignoring Rhys's question, "Jack will stay here and take care of things."

Gwen nodded, accepting this suggestion, and Adam put an arm around her, his hand resting on her shoulder as he led her away. But she hesitated in the doorway, her emotions turning from confusion to fear again in an instant, though her demeanour didn't change visibly. She turning around to face them once more, and warned Jack, "Don't let him go. If he comes after me again, I'll kill him."

Adam quickly led her out of the flat, and Jack frowned at the door for a few seconds after it had closed behind them. Gwen had accepted enough of the explanation that death threats really were a bit extreme... threats of maiming, she could see, death-threats, not so much.

"What was that about?" Rhys demanded, staring at the door with just as much confusion as Jack.

She shook her head, turning to face Rhys, "How do you think you'd feel in her position? She doesn't think she knows you, and you sneak up on her?"

"How was I to know?" Rhys demanded, turning on her angrily.

"I'm not blaming you." Jack said, sighing. Suddenly she felt very tired of this, the adrenaline was over but the problem remained. She sat down sharply on the couch, and stared off across the room, "But it's really not the best way to find out your girlfriend has amnesia."

x x x

Adam watched as Owen checked on Gwen. He didn't like Rhys... had tried to get rid of him, the second he saw the man so far to the front of Gwen's mind. Obviously, it would take more effort than simply making her forget and hoping she would deal with the problem herself... he had to turn everyone against Rhys.

That would take more time and effort.

"Right, well, no signs of long-term damage, as far as I can see." Owen declared, "Or alien intervention." Adam smiled, finding that quite amusing. Obviously Owen's medical skills were not up to detecting memory-alteration on his level. "But, I must be missing something. I'm sorry, but it's a mystery to me why you can't remember Rhys."

Adam watched Gwen leave, then moved to stand next to Owen, "You reckon she'll be alright?" he asked.

"I'm sure she will." Owen said with a nod, "Bet it's like amnesia. The right triggers could bring it all back. She got past Retcon once, she'll be able to get through this."

Adam smiled, "That's good to hear." he put a hand on Owen's shoulder, in what he hoped Owen interpreted as a gesture of camaraderie, and reached out to Owen's mind. In an instant he found memories of Rhys.

The memories themselves stank of aggression and self-righteousness. Rhys was offensive to everything Adam understood of existence. He carefully altered- not erasing or adding, simple twisting- these memories. Obnoxious comments; 'four-eyes', 'nerdy doctor', 'rodent-face'. Slights; ignoring Owen in favour of asking Gwen's opinion, talking about him while he was standing right there, ignoring his medical advice on Gwen's injuries.

Subtly making Owen not care so much that Rhys had been the one to come up with such an effective plan, the one time they'd worked together. That it had been Rhys who had infiltrated and sweet-talked the bad-guys, however much nerve and quick-thinking it may have involved. That Gwen had honestly and truly been in love with the man.

In the blink of an eye, it was done, and Owen turned to face him, adding to his earlier comment, "And even if she doesn't remember... no big loss, right?"

x x x

Adam was stood next to Gwen as she watched a video of Rhys Williams... talking, just talking... as it streamed through to the Hub from Jack's video camera. The entire point of this exercise was for her to see it, to try to trigger her memories of this man, and Adam couldn't very well go against one of Jack's plans directly. That would arouse suspicion.

Still, the way Rhys talked, it made Adam want to personally kill the man. So... open, no pretence or defence. No secrets. It was practically painful to watch, every word of perfect truth, as if he couldn't possibly understand how to lie to Gwen. He _knew_ what he was and didn't need or want to fake it.

Secrets were the only thing that made one individual, share your memories so completely as Rhys willingly did here, and everyone knew you, may as well share your own mind, and to Adam that was inconceivable. Even those whose minds he infiltrated, he couldn't read all their memories. Never would. He could gradually earn their trust and learn more, it would never be so complete as Rhys' trust of Gwen. He literally felt nauseous just watching this.

"Do you remember that?" Adam asked, kneeling next to Gwen, as Rhys talked so openly about the time when the two had first kissed.

"Sort of." Gwen answered hesitantly, as the infuriating man ranted on, in the background, "It's like I'm... I'm seeing what he's saying, but... I don't remember how I... felt."

Adam reached out and gently touched the side of Gwen's face. "Believe me when I tell you that that is your fiance." '_But it's still no big loss if you forget him forever... do you really want that big oaf around you for the rest of your life?_' "Your memory's just playing tricks on you, that's all. Okay." '_Don't worry about him, you'll be fine._'

Gwen nodded slightly, "Okay." she said softly.

"She starts to laugh." Rhys's voice continues on the video, "She calls me 'Rhys the Rant' and then she kissed me, right there in the queue."

'_Yeah, I called that one, with the ranting!_' Adam thought, irritably, letting go of Gwen's mind as he turned to watch the video. It only proved his point about secrets, and losing yourself to others.

"And I, and I, and I thought then, Jack, I... I thought, 'I'm going to marry this bloody mad woman, even if it kills me'."

Adam looked away in disgust, while Gwen leaned towards the screen slightly, frowning in deep thought. He scowled at her, knowing that Rhys had just broken his influence for the second time, and truly resenting that fact.

x x x

She had seen him again. That boy. She knew he was very important and she really should know him... but try as she might, she couldn't place exactly why he was so familiar.

Ianto had been with her, this time. They had just left Gwen with Rhys for the night, and had been about to leave when she'd seen him... but Ianto hadn't seen anything at all.

What was this boy? An hallucination? A vision? Someone trying to reach her? She had no idea what it was, but now she was out, alone, in the dark. Hunting for a Weevil while her mind kept wandering back to that boy was probably not the smartest of moves.

Ianto had offered to come with her, but she'd been distracted and waved off the offer. Not something she would usually ever do, hunting with Ianto was a great deal of fun... it became like a game, and made her feel almost like a predator herself, in spite of the fact that the Weevils were technically higher up the food chain than humans.

Part of her desire to be alone tonight was in the hope that she'd see the boy again and with no one around to scare the apparition off she might just find out who he was, what he wanted.

She'd tracked the Weevil down to the sewers, now... and as she stepped down off the ladder, the dank water splashed unpleasantly, and she idly observed one thing she had better than most human women. She didn't give a damn about the state of her shoes... in this situation, that was definitely a good thing.

She shone the flashlight around, seeing nothing but more sewer in either direction, "Come out, come out, wherever you are." she taunted in an almost sing-song voice, still scanning the area carefully. Almost immediately, she heard a growling snarling sound off to her right, "I can hear you." she sang softly.

The Weevil growled again, and she moved in that direction. Why was she not surprised that the Weevil responded to her 'innocent girl' voice? They probably found lone females much easier targets. Even if in her own opinion, that sing-song tone was quite creepy in the echoing sewer.

She started humming softly in that eerie lost-little-girl tone, as she followed the sound of the growls down the tunnel, around a corner, and into even deeper darkness. If it weren't for her flashlight, it would be pitch black down here. The Weevil seemed to respond to the humming, its growling getting closer than her own progress should account for.

She turned another corner, fully expecting to see the creature snarling in her face, gun raised to defend herself... but the figure her flashlight illuminated was not a Weevil. No... definitely not. She stared in shock at the familiar face, trembling slightly at the impossibility of what she was seeing.

It was her father.

"Get out!" he shouted at her, fear and panic in his voice, causing that emotion to rise in Jack's heart, drawn up from terrifying memories that she couldn't quite grasp, "Get out now!"

"Dad?" Jack asked. Her hands shook to the point where she nearly dropped the gun and flashlight.

"Run!" he yelled at her, and she felt the absolute certainty that danger was coming... that he was trying to protect her. She couldn't help but obey, turning and fleeing the sewer as quickly as she could.

Retracing her steps was easy... soon she found herself back on the surface, staring down at the manhole she had just climbed out of, still shaking slightly and trying to figure out what had just happened.

It was as if she had suddenly been a hundred and seventy years younger, a scared child again... running away from the monsters his father had stayed behind to protect him from.

"Jack?" she jumped, startled by the voice, and turning sharply to see Adam standing a few feet away, looking concerned. This didn't make any more sense than her father standing in the middle of a sewer on Earth. Adam had stayed at the Hub with Tosh and Owen. "Was it down there? The Weevil?"

"No." she said, still shaken by what she had seen, "How did you get here?"

Adam looked concerned as he stepped closer to her, "Well, I came with you, Jack... remember?" he said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Yes... I remember." she said distantly, frowning and turning to look down at the manhole again. Should she go back? Try to find her father? Or was he another illusion, like the boy? Her mind playing tricks on her?

That boy... she remembered him, now. God, how could she have forgotten?!

"Are you okay?" Adam asked her, "Jack, what did you see?"

She wondered how he knew she had seen anything besides sewer and weevil tracks, which really wouldn't be worth asking about... but somehow that detail didn't seem at all important right now. "My past."

It suddenly occurred to her that she really should tell Adam about this. She would never share the details of her life before the Doctor with another living soul, if it was at all avoidable... but she remembered confiding in Adam in the past... she couldn't recall specific details she had shared, only that he had never judged her, and never shared her secrets with others.

"What about your past?" he asked her gently, one hand still resting on her shoulder as he took her other arm and gently turned her to face him. "Is it your childhood?"

How could he possibly know that? "It was meant to be buried!" she said angrily, "I buried the memory over a hundred and fifty years ago. Why now?" she didn't care that she was yelling in the face of the man who was trying to comfort her... didn't care that she was close to tears, from the painful memories. None of it mattered, she just wanted it all to go away again.

"Well, maybe it's time." Adam suggested, reasonably, "Maybe up until now, your subconscious was protecting you. But you can't block out the past forever."

A single tear ran her cheek, and she met Adam's eyes with a pained and pleading stare, "I don't want to remember."

She was trying so desperately not to think about it, but the harder she tried to push the memories away, the clearer they became. Flashes of fear, the howling of monsters... the stuff of nightmares. A reality Jack had tried so very hard to forget.

She felt Adam's arms around her, trying to comfort her. It didn't work. "Tell me, Jack. I can help... that's why I'm here."

x x x

"So, according to the molecular breakdown, this potentially alien complex artefact is, in fact, made out of wood." Tosh announced, after hours of work on the scanners.

Ianto smiled faintly, as he watched the look on both Tosh and Owen's faces. It was quite comical, really. He had come in to see if they needed any help, and suggest they call it a night because of the late hour, but now he was glad he'd not announced his presence the second he had arrived.

"Well, perhaps it fell in the crate by mistake." Owen suggested, "Picked up meson energy from the other stuff."

Tosh snorted, "Yeah, right."

"Just a suggestion, no need to get snippy." Owen retorted sharply, grinning as he said it.

Tosh smiled at him, "Says Mr Sarcastic." the smile she wore was blatantly flirtatious, and Owen grinned back at her.

Ianto decided now would be a good time to either leave or draw attention to himself. He decided on the latter, as he had a valid comment to make, "I think Jack brought it in."

Owen jumped slightly at being caught out flirting, but Tosh just turned to face Ianto with slight confusion, "No, I'm sure Adam found it on an excavation a few months back."

Ianto shrugged, "I'll go and check my logs." he said simply, deciding it best not to use the word 'diary' in front of 'Mr Sarcastic'- and oh how that nickname suited Owen- before leaving the room.

He distinctly heard Tosh's muttering of, "Logs belong on computers." as he left the room, and smiled faintly at it. He couldn't help the fact that he was a traditionalist, and liked to keep some things- especially personal information and opinions- on paper.

He had just stepped into the locker room, where he kept his diary when he was at work, when he all-but ran into Adam, who had been leaving that same room, rooting through his coat pockets for something. Adam looked up at Ianto, startled, but then quickly asked, "Hey, Ianto. How's Gwen doing?"

Ianto blinked, taken by surprise by this question, but then shrugged, "Last I saw, she was still a bit upset, but I think she'll be okay." he said.

"That's good to hear." Adam said with a nod, "I was kind of worried about her." he added, placing a hand on Ianto's shoulder. Ianto scowled at the hand, incredibly uncomfortable with this friendly contact from the man he considered to be his rival, and he edged away from Adam.

"So was I." he said sharply. Rhys Williams could go jump off a cliff for all Ianto cared, but he really hoped that Gwen would be alright after this ordeal. He side-stepped further into the locker room, watching Adam like a hawk. Just because Ianto worked with this man didn't mean he had to like him.

Adam backed away, accepting the obvious demand that he leave, right now, "I'll catch you later, Ianto." and with that he turned to leave.

x x x

**Author's Note**: I know I've got Tosh and Owen acting more like themselves- especially Owen- but there's a reason; I figure Adam made Tosh so confident so she'd be more his type, and made Owen a bumbling fool so that he wouldn't be competition. Honestly, there's a fair chance he made Gwen forget Rhys on purpose, for the same reason. But if Adam likes confident women... well...


	11. All Human Record Is A Lie

x x x

**Chapter 11: All Human Record Is A Lie**

x x x

Jack returned to the Hub to find Adam already there, waiting for her. How did he get here so fast? She didn't ask, the last time she had it had made her feel like a fool for forgetting. Instead, she smiled at him, "Hey, what are you doing here so late?"

"Waiting for you." Adam answered, smiling warmly as he quickly closed the distance between them and kissed her, his hands moving to the sides of her face as he did so.

She returned the kiss for a few seconds, but then pushed him away, her hands on his shoulders as she asked, "And why did you want to see me again, hmm?"

"I thought you might like some company." it sounded innocent, and his next words confirmed that, "Painful memories can cause nightmares... I didn't think you'd want to sleep alone." An offer of comfort, rather than an actual come-on.

She frowned slightly. Usually, when she wanted emotional support, she would go to Ianto. Oh, she never told him that was the reason she would want to hold him so closely as they slept, but she was sure he knew. She had never considered Adam in the same way... Adam was just casual sex. But it was late, Ianto had probably gone home, already... and Adam was offering to be here for her, now. She saw no reason to refuse.

"I'd appreciate that, yes." she said with a nod.

Adam smiled, and led her over to the couch. She really didn't feel inclined to stop him, she was tired, and still a bit distracted by what had happened earlier. In spite of her dark mood, she didn't complain when he kissed her again... anything to distract her from the memories she wished had stayed buried.

She turned and laid back on the couch, pulling him down with her, not breaking the kiss. She relaxed, conceding control to him, as his hand moved up to rest on her shoulder. It was easier than being alone, and she hoped it might make her forget for a while.

But then other memories rose up in her mind, unbidden, but not unpleasant...

_The day that he had lost his virginity... he was young, but eager to learn, and she was beautiful. A timeless kind of beauty, with long raven-black curls and such soft skin. Her name was Deanna, and he would never forget even a second of his time with her._

Adam's other hand moved up to the side of her face, now, his fingers running lightly through her hair.

_His first male sexual partner... he called himself Warren, and he was a Time Agent... the same one who would later recruit him. Arrogant and selfish... but damn, he was good. If she remembered correctly, John Hart murdered him, six years later._

The memories were so vivid, so strong, that they may as well be happening again, right now... the pleasure she felt was so real.

_His first 'alien encounter'... that's what they called it at the Agency. Captain Kirk would have been proud- she did have green skin- oh, and the things she could do with her mouth..._

She moaned in pleasure at these memories, arching up towards him as he kissed her.

_John Hart... of course, he'd not used that name, then... never knew his real name. Violent, possessive... dangerous. More of an adrenaline rush than anyone before him, a beast that no one else could tame._

She began to realise what was happening, now... he was drawing out these memories, making her feel this.

_Flashes of so many faces, names long forgotten or never even known. But the time they had shared, the pleasure, that would never be lost._

Flying so fast through her mind. All the passion of over a century, blinding and paralysing her.

_His first love... her name was Lucia. For the first time in his long life, he genuinely understood the reason some people called it 'making love'. He cared only for her pleasure, not his own._

No... this was personal. She didn't want to share it with him!

_Ianto Jones... broken and lost, after Lisa's death. He had pulled the pieces together again, and comforted Ianto, who had confessed that Jack was the only man he had ever thought of in such a way, let alone allowed to kiss him... and more. So much more. He had been gentle, not wanting to hurt the already wounded man... try as she might, through all the memories of their time together, she couldn't pinpoint when she had fallen in love with Ianto._

She tried to push him away, now, but couldn't find the strength to move her hands... only succeeding in shaking her head. She tried to pull up the mental shields learned from her time at the Agency, then the stronger defences that the Doctor had taught her... but Adam didn't release her, didn't stop.

_She was laughing and trying to kiss him while he leaned back just out of her reach. She fought to free her wrists from his grip, tried to take control away from him. It was like a game, a battle for dominance, with the Master._

"No!" she cried out, "Stop it! Please, you're hurting me!"

x x x

Owen had arrived at work, an hour ago, to find two things out of the ordinary.

Firstly, and most importantly to Owen, there was no coffee. Coffee was important. No, coffee was absolutely essential. He immediately went out, walked across the plaza to a coffee shop, and got some to go, having absolutely no doubt that by the time he got back, there his favourite coffee mug would be waiting at his desk, and he'd have wasted his money. But he really couldn't afford to take that chance... the coffee was far too important.

On his way to find out if he had succeeded in tempting fate, he discovered the second strange thing of the morning. Jack was sleeping on the couch. He checked her pulse, more because the way she slept- 'dead to the world' was a good phrase here- it was difficult to tell, rather than any genuine belief that something might have happened to her. She was fine, so he continued to the autopsy room to get some work done on that report.

The small wooden box that he and Tosh had spent all of last night trying to figure out. He'd taken to thinking of it as 'Pandora's Box', until they knew better. Opening unidentified alien things was rarely a good idea. Some of the carvings looked like script, but nothing either Tosh or himself could work out. Until they could translate it and be sure it didn't say, 'WARNING, DO NOT OPEN!' they'd be cautious. In spite of popular opinion, Torchwood did learn from their mistakes.

There continued to be a noticeable lack of coffee, besides that which Owen had bought with his own money.

"_OWEN!_"

At the sound of his name, shrieked so loudly that it echoed through the Hub, Owen jumped, spilling coffee all over a pile of paperwork. Why was there still paperwork sitting on that desk, anyway? Didn't Ianto usually clear that up in the mornings? Where was the tea-boy, anyway?

At first he didn't recognise the hysterical female voice that had called his name, a cry for help. It was only when Jack ran into the autopsy room a fraction of a second later, looking downright petrified, that he realised she must have been the one to scream. To say Owen was surprised would have been an understatement.

In a panic, she flew- and her coat gave a brilliant illusion of credibility to that choice of words- down the steps to the scanner that Owen had spent the last six months denying the other four access to, lest they figure out why Jack kept coming in here for check-ups. Understanding that she was afraid that something bad had happened, Owen didn't ask, just turned on the scanner, and ran the full set of tests.

Nothing out of the ordinary. Unless you count the fact that there really were two heartbeats for only one foetus. In spite of the fact that Jack had said it was possible, Owen had never really accepted that as making any kind of sense.

"That's..." Jack gasped, starting to calm down just a little as she stared at the screen, "That's not possible." she said, breathlessly.

"Why not?" Owen asked, confused.

"I-" a very long hesitation, and her eyes darted like she was debating how much to actually say... how much to even believe? "I died." she whispered, the hand that wasn't on the scanner now moved to her abdomen, protectively.

"Nope." Owen said, shaking his head, "See, if you had, there'd be evidence on the scanner, even if it wasn't long enough to cause permanent harm."

She frowned, and took some time to choose exactly what she would tell him, before saying with uncertainty, "I remember dying."

Owen noticed the way her hand now moved- subconsciously, he thought- to her throat, rubbing her neck idly, as she tried to process this conflicting evidence. He felt the anger rising up in him, at the thought that anyone would do that to her.

"Maybe..." Owen offered, biting back that anger and trying to remain rational here, "Seeing as you're rubbing your neck like you were strangled... it's possible you were just rendered unconscious?"

She shook her head, "I remember _death_, Owen." she looked at him sharply, "I can tell difference."

But before Owen could argue with this statement, the sound of a gunshot rang out through the Hub. They exchanged an 'oh shit' look, and Jack ran out into the main area, her gun already in her hand. Owen paused just long enough to grab a medkit, before following, drawing his own gun as well, just in case.

What they found there was Ianto, curled up in a corner, underneath the stairs... his gun was a few feet away from him, and Tosh was trying to stop the bleeding from a wound on his neck. Owen swept in, going into full doctor-mode, tending to his injured co-worker. "Not too serious... missed all the major blood vessels. You were lucky, mate."

Ianto snorted at that, causing Owen's hands to slip as he tried to apply pressure to the wound.

"Hold still, would you?" Owen snapped.

"He tried to shoot himself." Tosh said, shaken, "I pulled the gun away, but I wasn't fast enough."

Owen shot a glare at Ianto, and saw that he had been crying, "What the fuck did you do that for?" he snarled, in spite of the fact that Ianto did look pretty traumatised. He deserved the yelling-at for being so bloody stupid as to try to shoot himself, whatever his idiotic reason might be.

"I don't deserve to live." Ianto answered, bitterly.

"Well that's too bad, 'cause you're going to." Owen snapped. Oh, how he hated attempted suicide cases. You save their lives, but they're never grateful. Ianto shook his head, about to protest, but Owen snapped, "Now, you're gonna cooperate, or I'm gonna sedate you."

Ianto glared balefully at Owen, but then lowered his eyes to the ground, reluctantly accepting this order.

Owen glanced up at the other two, and only now did he notice that Jack hadn't joined him at Ianto's side. It was strange enough that she wasn't fussing over tea-boy, but add to that her current posture- one arm across her chest, the other hand up to her mouth, which he mentally referred to as Jack's 'pensive mode'- and the frown she wore with it. Owen didn't like to think about it too much, but he knew Jack and Ianto were lovers, regardless of his own snide jokes insinuating something much less meaningful of the relationship, and she should be over here trying to comfort Ianto, right now... not looking almost... afraid of him. Something was very wrong here.

Still, medical emergency comes first, "Give me a hand here, Jack?"

But Ianto quickly caught Owen's arm, "I can walk, myself." Owen met his eyes and really didn't recognise whatever dark emotion was behind that stare, "I assume you're going to take me to the autopsy room, tie me down so I won't hurt myself? I can walk." Ianto's voice was firm.

Owen rolled his eyes, and helped Ianto to stand. At least tea-boy had told the truth, he didn't even lean on Owen, as he was led to the medical bay. Owen never called it an autopsy room, when the patient's alive. Seemed too much like tempting fate, to him.

"Alright." Owen said, as he fastened the last of the restraints on Ianto. He kept the examination table in the sitting position, 'cause talking to someone laying down always feels like you're talking to them on their death-bed. "Psych-evaluation time, I think." he announced to the room as a whole.

Ianto shook his head, "Not sure you want to do that." he said, miserably.

Owen looked up at Jack, who was watching over the railing, next to Tosh, but then returned his attention to the patient, "You just tried to kill yourself, I gotta find out why." A brief and morbid flicker of a smile, "There are records- you worked for Torchwood One, you must have read them- of alien poisons that'll make you suicidal."

"That was a natural defence mechanism of a very exotic aquatic life-form. We've not had sushi since Jack came back to Earth." Tosh pointed out.

"Yeah, the blowfish incident. Put me right off." Owen agreed, watching Ianto carefully. It was Ianto who had made that joke, back then... but not even a glimmer of a smile now. Nothing. Blank face, blank stare.

"Owen..." Jack said, her voice very quiet, but somehow holding all the authority and power it usually did. Everyone's attention was now on her, "Can I have a few minutes alone with Ianto?"

Owen saw Ianto tense at that suggestion. He didn't like the idea? Now Owen _knew_ something had messed with tea-boy's mind. Still, might be worth a try. "Yeah, alright."

He turned to leave, as did Tosh. Just as they were at the door, Jack added, "And keep Gwen and Adam out of here, too... this is private."

Owen mentally shuddered at the many possible interpretations of that sentence, but didn't give any outward sign of his disgust, except for the words, "No sex."

Jack scowled at him for that, "I promise." she hissed sharply.

x x x

Ianto was already dead inside. It hurt to think about what he had done, but he couldn't think about anything else, no matter how hard he tried. It was hell. No, he was sure hell couldn't compare to this feeling.

He had killed her. He had seen her with Adam, that morning, and when she had mentioned Adam's name last night, he had just... lost control.

Really, he thought, the rational way to react to that sort of jealousy, if you were going to be homicidal about it, would be to go for Adam. Adam was the one trying to keep Jack from him... and Adam was a... threat. A witness. Not to this, Adam hadn't even been there when he had attacked her last night, but...

"Ianto?" Jack asked, sounding uncertain.

He slowly looked up to see her standing right next to him, now, and saw the pain in her eyes. Confusion, uncertainty. Very much what he felt, but he also felt guilt and self-loathing. He really wished Tosh hadn't stopped him from ending it. "I'm sorry." he choked out, fresh tears running down his face.

She shook her head, "This isn't right."

"I shouldn't have-" he stammered, almost sobbing, "I... I really don't deserve to live. I'm a monster."

"Ianto, listen to me." Jack snapped.

The tone of her voice was urgent. As if whatever she was going to say had nothing to do with what he had done to her. As if it was somehow more important. Nothing was more important than Jack. Nothing, not the Earth, not the entire universe. Jack _was_ his universe, his reason to keep living... and he had killed her. Not just that, but he knew that her death would have caused her to lose the baby... and he knew how she cared for it.

"I remember dying, last night." Ianto opened his mouth to apologise again, but she kept talking, "But I didn't. Owen did tests-" her voice dropped to a whisper, "The baby's fine. I haven't died since John Hart threw me off a roof. I remember..." she hesitated, pain flashing across her face at the memory, but she continued, "I remember you... choking me." she blinked, "That could be misinterpreted, poor choice of words... but you know what I mean." he nodded, scowling at her nerve, such an obscene insinuation at such a serious moment, "But my improved healing only dissolves bruises post-mortem... and do you see any marks on my neck?"

Ianto stared at her, now. There were no bruises on her neck... where he remembered his hands had been. Strangling her. He remembered it so vividly... at the time, he had felt cold, uncaring. It didn't make sense that he could commit such an impassioned act of vengeance against one he thought he loved, without any emotion.

Ianto closed his eyes, "But I-"

"I don't think you did anything." Jack said sharply. This caught Ianto's attention, and he stared at her in open confusion, now. He remembered it, and clearly so did she, how could she deny it so blatantly? "This is just the latest- and most direct- in a list of things that have been out of place."

Ianto frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Gwen forgetting Rhys." Jack said quickly, beginning to count her list on her fingers, "Owen wearing glasses, and he says he's always worn them." Ianto blinked, knowing perfectly well that Owen _had_ always worn glasses. "Yesterday morning, I woke up remembering-" she hesitated, and Ianto scowled, guessing where this was going. He didn't interrupt, and Jack interpreted this accurately as permission for her to speak of it, "Remembering doing things with Adam the previous night that I know I should have felt for _days_... but I felt nothing." a slight twitch of her lip, "You know I'm always in a good mood after sex..."

"And you called in for rift-activity audits, first thing on a Monday morning." Ianto finished flatly, beginning to realise what she was getting at.

"Sure sign of a bad mood." she agreed, with a nod.

"You think... something's affecting our memories?" he asked, hopefully. If this was just a trick, an illusion. If he didn't really hurt her... then maybe there was reason to hope. But then he remembered the other girls... "But... you weren't the first, Jack. I've killed others."

She shook her head, "I don't believe that."

He scowled, "But I remember it."

"We both remember last night, too, but I don't believe it happened." she snapped. Her tone was harsher than necessary, and she seemed to realise it, as she deliberately took the time to calm herself down before continuing, "I started noticing these... discrepancies, yesterday. Do you recall anything unusual, since then?"

Ianto frowned, as he thought, "I've never felt so... jealous, so angry, at Adam, before." he offered, sure that this wasn't leading in the right direction. He could be subconsciously trying to incriminate the man who he felt this jealousy for. "And I don't recall him asking who the hell Gwen was, on her first day. And did Tosh go on a self-assertion course that I wasn't told about? I don't remember her being so... confident."

Jack shook her head, "Tosh has always been like that." she told him.

"I wonder which one of us has the real memories..." Ianto pondered aloud, a frown on his face as he added, "I hope it's you." He really did hope that Jack's belief in him- such unwavering trust, in spite of her own memories to the contrary- wasn't misplaced.

"The others don't seem to notice anything wrong." Jack noted, "While you think something's off about Tosh, and I think something's not right about Owen. And we both know last night didn't happen."

"So it's affecting all of us, then?" Ianto asked. Jack nodded slowly, "What do we do? How do we find out what really happened?"

Jack smiled at him, putting one finger to her lips, telling him not to talk about it. To play along with whatever she was up to, before walking back up the steps and calling out, "Owen?" Owen quickly returned from the main Hub, and Jack informed him, almost managing a business-like tone, "I think he'll be ok now... but leave the psych evaluation for a little while. Just keep an eye on him, okay?"

Owen nodded, "Sure thing."

x x x

Jack wandered over to the computers, trying- and only just failing- to look casual, as Gwen and Adam finished all-but interrogating Tosh on what had happened to Ianto. "Is he alright?" Gwen asked, eyes wide with concern, the instant she saw Jack.

"He'll live." Jack answered bluntly. Tosh watched her, now, with a slight frown. Jack was wearing the emotionless mask... the one that means something's bothering her, but she doesn't want the rest of them to know about it. She quickly settled herself in front of one of the workstations that Tosh hadn't officially claimed, and set to work, deep in concentration.

Tosh idly considered approaching her, offering to help, find out what was wrong. Obviously, Jack was seeking a technological solution to her problem, and that _was_ Tosh's area of expertise. But something held her back. She couldn't see the screen from here, and got the distinct impression that Jack had deliberately chosen that computer terminal for that very reason.

Gwen and Adam were talking, again. Gwen expressing concern for Ianto, and Adam showing surprise at the situation, but now that Tosh had told all she knew, they didn't seem interested in sharing their theories and opinions with her. She wasn't surprised.

Tosh watched as Jack's head tilted to one side, watching the screen, then she heard Gwen point out, "Do we even want to know what she's looking at?"

"Anything that can put _that_ expression on _Jack's_ face..." Tosh said, watching the stunned, fascinated, and intent stare their Captain was now giving the computer screen. The way her head was tilted did look strongly reminiscent of the way some people would try to get a better angle watching porn, and if Jack Harkness was that shocked by it, "I'm sure we don't..."

Jack looked up briefly, her eyes showing no sign of amusement at their debate, then returned her attention to the computer, typing commands, likely to bring up something else. A few minutes passed, before she called, "Tosh, could you come over here and look at this...?"

Tosh glanced at the other two, wary of this request, but then she did as asked, and quickly hurried over to look at the computer screen. It was footage of a security camera in the Hub. And according to the details it was the first in a series of clips, which Jack had compiled. According to the timestamp, this image was from last night.

_It showed Adam and Jack... he was holding her down on the couch, one hand to the side of her face, the other holding her shoulder down... and she was clearly in pain, though Tosh could see no physical reason. Aside from what she had already noted of his hands he wasn't even touching her. But she was speaking, and the lip-reading software converted the soundless words into subtitles, 'Stop it. Please, you're hurting me.'_

_Ianto stepped into view, one trembling hand pointing a gun at Adam's head as he ordered what the software translated as 'Let her go.'_

_Adam glanced over his shoulder at Ianto, and slowly stood, releasing Jack, but for some reason when he did this she seemed to pass out. He turned to face Ianto, hands raised defensively, 'You're one to talk, Yan.' Tosh raised her eyebrows, Ianto hated that nickname from anyone but Jack. Didn't Adam know that?_

_'What did you do to her?' Ianto asked, as Adam stepped closer. He hesitated a moment too long, and Adam took the gun from his hand without any resistance, dropping it onto the nearest table._

_And almost immediately, Adam placed a hand on Ianto's shoulder, 'I didn't do anything to her. You did, remember?' Ianto fell to his knees, Adam didn't release his grip, and it looked very much like Ianto was screaming in pain._

Tosh frowned, not understanding the meaning of this... but then the next clip started... CCTV footage from the plaza, yesterday morning.

_The crowd milled around, oblivious to the fact that there was anything unusual below their very feet. Tourists, businessmen, all sorts, just going about living their normal lives. It was a pleasant scene, one of the ones Tosh would sometimes watch when she was bored, and wonder what a normal life felt like._

_Tosh watched herself crossing the plaza from where she had parked her car, towards the tourist office. It was a bright and sunny morning, and there was a spring in her step. She remembered that she had been eager to get into work, that day, having spent the previous night reading a sub-standard scientific journal on particle fluctuation, and looking forward to doing something that might require actual brain-power._

_She saw Adam approach her, from the direction of the water tower. He spoke to her, and the software picked up on it, translating to subtitles, 'Hey, Toshiko.' She remembered the way he actually said her name, more emphasis than was strictly necessary on the middle syllable; Tosh-EEK-o. It was kind of sweet._

_But the her on the CCTV backed away from him, defensive, asking, 'I'm sorry, do I know you?'_

_Tosh frowned, not remembering saying that, at all. Then she saw Adam reach out and touch her shoulder, just has he had Ianto in the first clip, 'It's me, Adam. Remember?'_

The next clip was from Hub security, about eight hours earlier.

_Owen was sitting at his desk, going over an autopsy report- she could tell that this was what it was, by the distinctive header on the paperwork- and looking half-asleep. He picked up his favourite coffee mug from the table, glared into it, as if expecting it to fill up at some telepathic command, but then swore... the software didn't translate it, but the body-language made it clear that the word had to be an expletive._

_A shadow crossed his work, and Owen looked up, 'What the -?' more untranslated swearing. Tosh guessed at 'bloody hell', but she could be wrong._

_A hand- shadowy and ghostly, barely recognisable- touched his shoulder from somewhere off-screen. Owen's eyes glazed, and then he nodded in acceptance, 'Well make yourself useful and get me some more coffee, would you?'_

_Tosh noticed that the hand had resolved to look like that of a human. Somehow she got the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that it belonged to Adam._

The following afternoon, now. Gwen had just arrived back from her vacation.

_Gwen stared at Adam as if she had never seen him before in her life. 'Who the - is this?' Tosh remembered, this time, that the word had been 'hell'._

_Adam quickly stood up, and approached her. The software barely caught the words from the side of his mouth, 'Just 'cause that's what I said to you on your first day.' and he put a hand on Gwen's shoulder, 'Remember?'_

Tosh was beginning to recognise the pattern, now, and it made her feel like she was going to be sick. The next clip was less than an hour before the one of the Plaza.

_Ianto and Adam, in the Hub, alone. 'Who are you?' Ianto asked, turning to face Adam as if he was an intruder._

_'I'm Adam.' he reached out in an attempt to touch Ianto's shoulder, but Ianto backed away. Some part of Tosh felt relieved that he had retreated, in that moment. 'I've been working here for three years, remember.' But Adam- whatever he really was- succeeded in touching Ianto's shoulder on his second try._

_Ianto nodded, almost smiling, as he answered, 'Of course I remember.'_

Tosh watched as Jack typed into a text file, for her to read, 'you don't want to see how he met me'.

Those words sent a chill up Tosh's spine... it didn't take a great deal of imagination to guess what that meant. She did remember that for over two years Jack and Adam had been, well, sleeping together. Influencing their minds to make them believe whatever he wanted... if he had sex with one of them, it would be as good as rape.

She repressed the urge to vomit, and returned her attention to the screen, just as Jack clicked the button to allow the next clip to play. The timestamp indicating that it was about an hour or so before the very first clip.

_Ianto was reading an unidentified book, flipping through the pages irritably, as if looking for something and failing to find it. She noticed Adam sitting next to Ianto only when he spoke, the words coming up on the screen as subtitles once more, 'What's wrong?'_

_Ianto was startled, jumping up from the couch and away from Adam, the translator-program only caught the side of Ianto's face, but it was enough to get the words, 'My diary.' and he looked very tense. Adam leaned forward and picked up the book Ianto had been reading, 'You're not in it.' Adam opened the book and glanced at the first random page he came to, 'Everyone else is.' and now Adam stood, walking towards Ianto, and somehow Tosh got the idea that this was a predatory behaviour, 'Why... would I leave you out... when you've been here so long? Like I'm remembering a man who doesn't exist.'_

_Adam scowled, dropping the diary... and his hand flickered, like a very good hologram whose power-supply was beginning to fail. He gripped his arm with his other hand, and the flickering ceased... then he glowered at Ianto._

_'What are you?' Ianto asked._

_Very suddenly and violently, Adam grabbed Ianto, shoving him back against a wall. The translator program couldn't read what he was saying, but it was obviously a threat. When he finished speaking, he backed up, pushing Ianto away from him, obviously infuriated._

_'Gwen? What did you do to her?' Ianto asked. Tosh understood the question, because of the previous clips... Adam had affected their memories, and Gwen had forgotten Rhys. Once more, Adam had his back to the camera, and the software failed to see his words... but Ianto responded with, 'Jack has to know.' In spite of some visible fear, Ianto didn't look like he was trying to threaten, just stating a fact._

_Enraged, now, Adam shoved Ianto back against the wall again, one hand on his forehead, and the software just caught the side of his mouth as he said, 'Remember this.'_

_Ianto convulsed in obvious pain, slowly sinking to the floor... after a couple of seconds, he spoke, shaking his head, face stricken with fear and horror, 'I didn't do that.'_

_But Adam didn't stop. Whatever he was doing to Ianto's mind, whatever he was showing him, trying to make him believe, it had to be truly horrific._

_The software picked out some words from amidst Ianto's chocking and screaming, 'My diary.' ... 'No. Please.' Tosh cringed, wanting to look away... but Jack obviously let the footage run on for a reason, and she didn't want to miss anything important._

_Finally, Adam released Ianto from whatever mental torture he had inflicted... kissed him on the lips, very briefly, something about it reminded Tosh of the sort of quick kiss you usually give a lover after a really good time in bed, before rolling over to sleep._

_Adam held Ianto close, almost protectively, if she hadn't seen what he had just done to the other man... and his head turned up, allowing the software to pick out his words, 'You know, I forgot what a rush it is, feeding in the bad stuff.'_

After a few seconds, Jack typed again, 'keep this file open but hidden, I'll be right back'... almost immediately, she stood, speaking aloud, "See what you can do with that, Tosh. I've got to check on Ianto."

Tosh nodded, bringing up some reports over the video footage, and beginning to work on said reports. She diligently avoided looking at Adam, as Jack left... fearful of what might happen if he recognised what she now knew.

Ten seconds after Jack disappeared, Owen emerged from the medical bay, calling over, "Jack said you needed my help with some files, Tosh?" Tosh nodded.

Jack appeared behind Owen and added, "Gwen, this might need your opinion as well... you're good with human behaviour and profiling. Adam, can I talk to you, alone?" Tosh saw the hurt on Jack's face, and was surprised to find herself reading it as a request for comfort.

But a second later she realised... it was a distraction.

x x x

"What is it, Jack?" Adam asked, following her into the office. He projected the illusion of concern very effectively, she thought.

But Jack had worked for the Time Agency, and later been a con-artist... when it was necessary, Jack could be an incredibly effective actor. Now, she forced tears to her eyes, turning her head away from Adam as if she was attempting to hide said tears. At the same time, she carefully positioned herself in the room just at the right angle, so that she could see the others leaning over the workstation, through the window, but Adam had his back to them. "Why would he do something like that?" she asked quietly, deliberately making her voice crack, to match the tears.

_He was a threat... he had to be eliminated._

It hadn't been a thought, per say, more like an instinct or emotion, and it certainly hadn't been her own. She failed to show surprise at her recognition of his feelings, which was a good thing really. She might not have remained so focused on her act if she hadn't already been aware of her extra-sensory perception.

Adam took a step closer to her, reaching out a hand to attempt to comfort her, but she backed away. She allowed genuine fear to show in her eyes, manipulating that emotion to give the illusion that her defensive behaviour was caused by the attack she remembered from Ianto... from one she trusted.

"I don't know. Never understood suicide." Adam finally answered, watching her carefully. The illusion of concern was still there. She wondered at how he could pretend to care, so easily, after hurting her like that. Did his species even really understand compassion?

Jack shook her head, "That's not what I-" she replayed the false memory in her mind, her hand instinctively moving to her throat, and she allowed herself to tremble visibly... not a weakness she would usually show, but this was an act. Buying time. "He..."

"He what?" Adam asked, "Jack, what's wrong?" he reached out to her again, but she slapped his hand away.

"Last night, I..." she frowned, shaking her head and meeting Adam's eyes. Best way to lie; meet their gaze, and make yourself believe what you're saying. She focused on the false memories, so realistic that it was easy to pretend. "I couldn't fight it, he..." her voice dropped to a whisper, "He killed me." She brought her hand up to cover her eyes, fingers parted just right so that she didn't actually block her view of him, but it added to the illusion of grief, "And... oh, god, Adam... I never told you or the girls, but I... I was pregnant."

This time she was certain the shock on his face was genuine. He looked utterly horrified, actually. And she could sense the emotion in the air '_Oh no, what have I done?_' He wasn't faking it.

He made a move as if to try to comfort her, but she held up her hands, shouting harshly, "Don't touch me!" adding in a softer voice that perfectly mimicked a whimper, "Please."

Adam quickly backed away, staring at her horrified. "I'm so sorry." he stumbled over his own words, trying not to give himself away as he quickly added, "For what that bastard did. If only I had been there, Jack." and behind the words she could almost hear his thoughts, as well, '_Let me take it back, please._'

She shook her head, "I... I had to tell someone." she said softly. She could tell that he really wanted to hold her, to comfort her, even without affecting her mind, but she didn't trust him enough to allow it.

"You know you can always talk to me." Adam answered, though he did look genuinely stricken by her pain.

She remembered him saying this, last night, when they had been out on the Weevil hunt... but he had enforced it, then. She was certain of that now... the word, 'remember'... he did say it, and he did touch her shoulder. Looking back, even with the illusions, the reality still remained, even if some of it was hidden.

She wrapped her arms around herself, defensively, staring out over the Hub. Owen was watching them, now... a cold and calculating glare fixed on the back of Adam's head. Tosh was talking to Gwen, who was wearing her best morally indignant expression. Gwen nodded at whatever Tosh said, and then disappeared into the medical bay.

To fetch Ianto, no doubt. It was time.

x x x

Ianto left the autopsy room, lurking behind Gwen, still very unsure of himself. It wasn't that he didn't trust Jack's theory... just that those memories were so very real. He saw Adam and Jack emerge from her office, and felt another surge of jealousy, but he forcefully suppressed it.

Adam stopped, in the middle of the room, scowling at Ianto, "What's he doing here?"

Ianto heard the gun being cocked before he saw it, as Jack pressed the weapon to the back of Adam's head. Adam froze, eyes wide, and then he slowly turned to face her. "Owen, cuffs." she ordered, and Owen obeyed without question. Ianto saw the girls both watching, both very angry. Gwen had a hand hovering near her own gun, almost casually, while Tosh had her arms folded defensively across her chest.

"What's going on, Jack?" Adam asked, clearly confused, "A minute ago you were all-but crying on my shoulder."

Once Adam was cuffed, Jack lowered her gun, and smiled coldly, "But you know me, don't you, Adam?" she asked, her tone becoming almost predatory, "I spent five years as a con-artist. I remember telling you that. Did I ever, really?"

Adam's mouth opened and closed a few times, "You tricked me...?" he asked in disbelief.

Jack gestured to Tosh, a circular hand-motion, which Ianto understood as soon as Tosh reacted, turning a computer screen around to face them all. Ianto looked at the screen, and watched as it showed Adam pinning Jack down with one hand on her shoulder. He wanted to look away, he really did.

The words displayed as subtitles on the screen made him feel ill, and now Jack repeated them aloud, her tone cold and threatening, not showing any sign of the fear the image on the screen did, "_'Stop it, please, you're hurting me.'_ What did you do to me?"

Adam stared at the screen, terrified at being caught out, then turned back to Jack, "I didn't mean to hurt you, I swear!"

"What did you do?" she repeated slowly, ominously.

Adam sighed, surrendering to the inevitable, "I read your memories." he admitted, but then quickly added, "You let me in, willingly!" Jack's eyes narrowed, showing her anger, "It was too much..." Adam said, panic in his voice now, "When you tried to resist, I- I didn't mean to, I just couldn't stop. I'm sorry, I really am."

Jack frowned for only a moment, but then Ianto was surprised to see a slight twitch to her lip... as if she thought this was somehow amusing. He couldn't understand why she would, there was absolutely nothing funny about what Adam had done to them. To any of them.

"I can sense that you're telling the truth... am I correct in imagining it could be compared to allowing you to fuck me, but then expecting you to stop when you're so close to climax that you can't think?" Adam stared for a second, then nodded once, nervously. Jack shrugged and said simply, "Apology accepted."

_WHAT?!_ She just... _forgave_ him, after what he did to her? How could she? He had hurt her, as good as raped her mind, and... and she was just dismissing it, as if it didn't really matter at all? He knew Jack had been through a lot in his/her long life, but how could she possibly be so calm about what this monster had done?!

Everyone else seemed just as stunned, staring at her with disbelief written clearly across their faces. Gwen's mouth was hanging open in that odd wide-eyed way of hers. Owen was scowling as if he'd just eaten half a lemon and was trying to figure out why. Tosh was perhaps the least horrified, though still obviously shocked, staring with a puzzled frown as she began to ask, "But he-?"

But Jack simply held her hand up to halt Tosh's argument, and continued speaking to Adam.

"The polite way to react to the situation would have been to have this conversation, immediately, instead of making me forget." she tilted her head up a little, so she was now giving the illusion of looking down on him, "And while we're on the subject of polite, 'hello, my name is Adam'. That's how you introduce yourself."

"But I had to become part of your memories in order to exist. I didn't mean any harm." Adam pleaded.

"Well then, if you must insinuate yourself into someone's mind to become real, maybe you should have tried something harmless, like, 'Oh, I know you, we went to school together, remember?'" The emphasis on the word 'remember' made it sound very important. Ianto vaguely recalled Adam using the word to others, particularly Gwen when she had asked who the hell he was.

Adam was staring at her in disbelief, now, clearly as shocked as the rest of them that she was so calmly- even kindly- accepting his apologies. That instead of the vengeance that she rightfully should rain down upon him for what he had dared to do to her, she was merely rebuking him like a disobedient child. Adam lowered his gaze to the floor, and spoke very quietly, now, "I didn't think it would cause such offence... and I needed to be close to those who knew me. It's how I survive, by being remembered."

"Memories define us. You changed us." Jack said sternly, before visibly relaxing and even smiling as she added in what sounded like a genuinely gentle tone, "But maybe it was an honest mistake."

Adam nodded, hopefully, meeting her eyes as he repeated, "I didn't mean any harm."

Jack's gaze hardened very suddenly, "Except to Ianto?"

Adam froze, his eyes widening with fear, once more, and his mouth open in shock at the sudden turn of the tide, "He found out what I was. I was afraid of what would happen if you knew!"

Ianto saw a dark gleam in Jack's eyes, near-homicidal, "You should be far more frightened of me, now. You hurt someone I love, and you will pay for that." she snarled... but Ianto really only processed one word in that sentence.

_Love?_

He stared at Jack in shock, for that. She loved him? She had forgiven Adam for hurting her, but would exact bloody vengeance on Ianto's behalf? Part of him felt honoured, mostly he felt ecstatic that she had said she loved him... but another part felt physically ill at the fury she showed on his behalf. It was truly terrifying.

Adam bowed his head, and if his hands weren't bound behind him, Ianto got the impression they would be clasped in supplication, begging her for mercy, "I didn't think I had a choice!"

"There's always a choice." Jack said, her tone softening slightly, "It's a shame you made the wrong one. If you had approached us as a virtual stranger, peacefully, identified what you were, and not tried to change us, maybe we could have been friends."

There was a threat and a danger behind that soft tone, Ianto could still see anger in her posture... though her face showed sadness, regret at Adam's choices, as though she would have liked to have known him on more civilised terms.

In an attempt to distract that anger, fearful of witnessing her wrath, even if it was against a creature that had hurt him so greatly, Ianto asked, "Why us?" Adam looked up at him, and he elaborated, "Why did you choose to come to us?"

"Earth wasn't my choice." Adam said, jumping at the opportunity to change the direction of this interrogation, "I fell through the rift, like almost everything else in this city. But you all have such unique memories..." he turned to face Jack, now, as he continued, "Especially you, Jack. All those extraordinary memories you hold, far greater than anyone else on this world. I haven't even begun to see a fraction of what is hidden in your mind, but it was you that drew me here."

Jack frowned, "Are you aware that I have been developing empathic and telepathic abilities, over the last few months?" Adam shook his head slightly. Ianto understood this, and he knew Owen did as well. Gwen and Tosh both expressed their confusion at the same time as Adam.

While both Gwen and Tosh had witnessed the events with the alien whale, the reason for it hadn't been explained to them, and they only knew that it had been able to communicate its pain to her. Even the Doctor's visit had only been explained by the suggestion of teaching mental defence, rather than training Jack to handle abilities she herself was developing.

"Well it's true." Jack said, and she slowly and deliberately stepped closer to Adam, "I saw what you did to Ianto... let's see how you like it." she snarled, suddenly showing all the rage she had been concealing for most of the conversation, as she grabbed Adam by the head, index and middle fingers touching the pressure-points on the temples that both Ianto's Torchwood One training, and what he had seen of the Doctor's lessons, told him many telepaths used for direct communication. "Remember this."

Whatever she forced Adam to witness must be incredibly painful. Ianto didn't like to think about it, but he was aware that Jack had been through a great many things, spanning over a century, and if her word for it was true more than a thousand- often agonising- deaths. Torchwood files- when snooped through with the knowledge of exactly what you were looking for- did mention dissection and experimentation on a subject labelled as 'the Immortal', and none of it was pretty.

This telepathic assault caused Adam to fall to the ground, screaming in agony and begging for mercy. Ianto felt a grim sense of satisfaction at this vengeance, even if he hadn't been the one to enact it.

Jack laughed coldly as she backed away from Adam, leaving him cringing and whimpering in pain. "Y'know you're right, that really is a rush." she said, her words like daggers, causing Adam to flinch, "Please tell me how much that hurt."

But all Adam seemed capable of, at the moment, was whimpering and begging, "I'm sorry, please, I didn't mean it, I'm sorry."

In spite of what Adam had done to him, Ianto felt pity for this creature.

x x x

Adam was in the vaults, now, locked up in a holding cell, right next to Janet (and oh how that Weevil had snarled bloody murder at Adam, as he'd passed her cell). He had begged, pleaded, bribed and threatened. But he had left them with very little choice. What he had done to Ianto was unforgivable. He had changed who they were, and none of them trusted him to fix it.

_"For the better. You didn't remember who you were. I helped you. Look at Owen, so much less cynical, he's kinder, now... happier. And Toshiko, too... she's never been this confident. They make such a sweet couple."_

He had stolen Gwen's memories, insinuated himself into their minds without their permission.

They had to forget him. She knew that it would kill him, but that was the only way to be sure that they would be themselves again.

_"But memory isn't finite, there's still room for me alongside the truth. Please, you can't kill me. You made me live. And you always remember what you killed. Don't you, Jack?"_

_"I didn't _ give_ you your life, you took it by force."_

"Telepathy?" Tosh asked, now, as they sat in the conference room, to discuss the current situation, "How did you learn that?"

"It's... temporary." Jack said, with a frown. Then a dramatic sigh before she gave in and explained, "I'm pregnant. The father is an alien, and a powerful telepath. Not much more civilised than John Hart, and a hell of a lot more dangerous, but I'd trust him with my mind more than Adam, right now." There was bitterness in her tone, but it was also perfectly true. "The point is that, as long as I carry his child, I share that ability."

"And you used it to hurt Adam?" Gwen asked, frowning. More concerned with morality than Jack's secrecy, "What effect would that have on the child's mind?"

"Considering who the father is, it's probably genetically inclined to that sort of violence, already, anyway." Jack muttered, coldly.

"Why keep it, then?" Tosh asked, still looking quite stunned.

"The hope that I'm wrong." Jack said simply.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Gwen asked.

"I wasn't sure how. Part of me hoped you'd figure it out and challenge me about it, so I wouldn't have to find a suitable point to admit it on my own, but..." she glanced at Owen, "Between doctor-patient confidentiality, and the child's genetic inheritance, there was no evidence for you to see."

"If you'd wanted me to tell them, I would have." Owen pointed out.

Jack shrugged, looking at the table intently, now, "Not that it matters, right now." She pulled out a small box from her coat, setting it in front of her, for them all to see. Retcon, two-day dose pills.

"Oh no, I said no Retcon in your condition." Owen declared, "I mean, if you weren't preggers, I'd be all for it, after what that ginger twat did to our tea-boy... but..."

Jack rolled her eyes, "I created that drug, Owen. It's perfectly safe for humans, regardless of their physical condition. And I checked with the father, there should be no negative reaction to any component of Retcon, or any possible permutation or combination thereof, either. Although apparently, I'm not allowed to take aspirin, drink certain herbal teas, or kiss anyone from the planet Risa Seven... because those would be fatally poisonous to his species."

'Aspirin?' Owen mouthed, silently, looking faintly amused.

"How did you communicate with him?" Tosh asked, curiously.

"Text message." Jack said, shrugging as if that simple conclusion should have been obvious. At her confused look, Jack laughed, "What? Aliens use mobile phones, too!"

"So we're just going to wipe out the last two days?" Ianto asked, "And it'll be like he was never here. We'll forget _all_ of it?"

Jack nodded, "Exactly."

"Even the things he made us remember happening long before yesterday?" Ianto persisted, and Jack nodded again.

"The memories he implanted may be _of _ long ago, but they were still _made _ in the last two days." she explained.

"Well if we're going to do that, we'll need to erase all the CCTV footage." Tosh pointed out, "All documentation. Every mention of Adam, in any context."

"I'll get onto the paperwork, then." Ianto volunteered, though he'd have been given that job even if he'd tried to refuse it, "All the reports for the last twenty-four hours or so will have his name on them. I'll burn them and re-write them without him."

"I'll delete the computer records, CCTV, his personnel file, that sort of thing, and clean up the drives so we can't retrieve them." Tosh agreed.

"I'll talk to Rhys." Gwen offered, "Adam was with you when I called about..." about the forgetting-Rhys incident. Yeah. "I'll make sure he doesn't mention any of this to me."

"I'll go erase my video-camera, then." Jack said. She might have forgotten that, if Gwen hadn't mentioned Rhys. If Rhys Williams had relied on people's memories to live, he'd have been long gone, Jack thought idly... it was cruel, but quite possibly true. "And you may have to Retcon him as well." Gwen scowled at that, but nodded.

Owen glanced around the room, then turned to Jack and said, rather bluntly, "I know the baby's gender." Jack looked at him now, surprised, as he continued, "If... you wanted to know."

"Well, we're going to get Retconned, anyway." Jack said, laughing nervously, "Yes, tell me."

x x x


	12. Once Seen Always Yearned For

**Author's Note**: In case it wasn't clear, when Jack told the entire team she was pregnant at the end of the last chapter, that was right before everyone got retconned, so the girls still don't know.

x x x

**Chapter 12: It's the Jawline, Once Seen Always Yearned For**

x x x

Martha Jones stepped out of the elevator, and through the large rotating cog-door into Torchwood's main headquarters. She really tried to resist the urge to stare around in fascination, but she had honestly expected a pokey little underground bunker-esque place, not... oh, she was so _not_ going to tell Jack this place was bigger than she'd expected it would be.

Then she heard a familiar female voice call out through the room- great acoustics, too- for her to hear, "Miss Martha Jones!"

She grinned up in the direction of the voice, seeing Jack leaning on a railing, watching her with a bright smile. Last time they'd met, Jack hadn't been especially cheerful- although that might have had something to do with Martha persistently teasing her about the Master- but now she was positively... well, radiant. "Oh, you're looking good, Jack!" she replied brightly.

Jack raised one eyebrow, grinning just a bit brighter at her, "Good to see you too." she laughed, before quickly running down the three steps to the level upon which Martha stood, and hugging her. As she did so, she whispered, "One word to either the girls, I'll make sure you have to endure every second of their henpecking, too."

Martha laughed, backing away from the hug, still grinning, "Now that's just cruel." she said, all but giggling.

She wondered if this meant that the men here knew? It would be an unusual turn-about on the nature of the condition, and no mistake. She remembered when Leo's wife had been expecting, he had sulked about with all his guy-friends- and a few of his wife's male acquaintances, none too happy at being left out of her life while all the women- including Tish- fussed over the pregnancy. Martha had taken Leo's side.

But she didn't dare ask Jack, now, as the two 'girls' in question were standing right there.

Jack shrugged innocently, turning face the three other people in the room. She indicated the pretty young Asian woman, "Toshiko-" then the pasty guy, "-Owen-" then the dark-haired woman, "-Gwen-" and behind Martha, where she hadn't realised the man from the tourist office had followed her down, he had been standing there so silently, like a ghost, "-Ianto. Meet Martha."

Martha smiled, nodding to each one in turn as they were introduced, then quickly picked up her things from where she had been forced to drop them in order to accept Jack's enthusiastic greeting.

"Uh, just a casual visit or...?" Owen asked her, in a slightly flirtatious tone, as if he hoped it wasn't going to be all business.

Martha, easily recognising the medical clothing Owen wore, chose to be playfully cruel, "I'm here to complete your post-mortem." she told him brightly.

And straight down to business.

It's something the Doctor told her once. You never think to notice it when you normally work in a hospital all the time, but... follow the smell of antiseptics, and you find the medical facility. One hundred percent guarantee. Sure, Owen reeked of it too, but without even needing to be obvious about sniffing the air, she quickly crossed the main room to find the white-tiled medical bay.

Meanwhile, she heard Jack explain cheerfully behind her, "Dr Jones works for UNIT." as if this would somehow comfort Owen to know why he was being usurped. Martha hoped not, the look on Owen's face had been priceless, and she hoped to continue to rile him.

"Oh, um, sorry... sorry, I get a bit confused." one of the two 'girls' asked, "Which one's UNIT?" Martha glanced back to see that it was Gwen who had spoken, but other than that, she maintained her air of command with relative ease.

"Intelligence, military." Jack explained, as they followed Martha into the medical bay, gathering around a railing that overlooked the workspace, "Cute red caps." Martha resisted the instinct to make some comment on this, as Jack continued, "The acceptable face of intelligence-gathering on aliens. We're more ad hoc... but better looking." The slightly raised tone of voice on the last three words made it quite clear that Jack was saying this directly to Martha, but she didn't retaliate, simply raising an eyebrow as she continued to sort out her medical kit.

Pulling on gloves and a medical coat, Martha turned now to the corpse on the table. All business, in spite of Jack's remarks, "I identified a pattern from UNIT's data on sudden deaths. Toxic shock. Nothing to link the victims. Different ages, sexes, ethnic origins, occupations. But there was a statistically significant concentration in South Wales."

As she began to examine the body itself, Jack laughed lightly, "Come on, Martha, be honest. You just came all this way to see me."

"Well he did, why shouldn't I?" she asked, glancing up at Jack for a second. Jack simply smirked at this, and Martha shook her head.

"So what about this pattern, then, Dr. Jones?" Owen asked, and Martha was secretly grateful to him that this conversation was cut short. It should be private. True, she had mentioned the Doctor, but Jack had started it by prodding her about reasons to visit now.

"They were being written off as suicides or accidents." Martha explained, turning her attention to Owen, while still checking the body, looking for the tell-tale sign that this one followed the same pattern as the others. And she found it. "Look. Puncture mark. Hypodermic needle. You'll find his bloodstream was pumped full of ammonium hydroxide."

The fact that the puncture mark was in the eye, hidden by the eyelid even when the eye was open normally, showed a degree of professionalism that had made Martha's skin crawl the first time she had seen it. Now it was just disturbingly familiar. Like being able to tell the difference between a normal knife-wound and a Toclafane's blade.

"Yeah. Bloodstream." Owen muttered, taking on an overly defensive air, "That was the thing I was going to do next."

"Have you checked his medical records?" Martha asked him, trying and failing to resist the urge to smile at his discomfort.

"Uh, no." he admitted, "I was just about to."

Martha smiled brightly, "Well, let's give it a go. You never know, Owen, you might learn something."

x x x

So the autopsy was over, the medical records checked. Shame about those, but Tosh was currently trying to find out who erased them and how. Meanwhile, Martha was left without any specific work to do, and Jack had invited her up to her office.

It was easy to relax in Martha's presence, letting down the mental shields the Doctor had trained her to use. Martha was hiding behind professionalism, too, but dropped the mask almost the second they were alone together.

"So how're you doing?" she asked Jack, idly looking around the office as she did so. She seemed... happy. In spite of working under UNIT orders to identify some strange pattern of possibly-alien-related murders, Jack could tell that she was genuinely happy.

"Never better." Jack said brightly, leaning back in her chair. But she didn't want to allow the conversation to focus on herself, so she quickly added, "How are your parents?"

"Getting better." Martha said with a nod, "They send their love."

Jack nodded, "Give them mine." she answered, automatically. Forced and idle pleasantries were better than being interrogated on her health, any day. But it had stalled, as Martha gave her a careful look, and didn't come up with any reply... harmless or otherwise. Jack was forced to try again, "So... End of the World Survivors Club."

Martha laughed nervously, sitting opposite her, "God, I am so glad to see you, Jack!"

"See, you did come all this way just to see me." Jack cheered, sitting forward and grinning, "I knew it, doesn't matter what gender I am, I'm still irresistible."

Martha raised an eyebrow, "Seemed to make a difference to someone..." she eyed Jack up, "You're looking good for almost seven months along." she added with a sly grin. Martha had been there when the Doctor had given the lecture on differences between human and Time Lord biology, and the odds of how it could affect Jack.

Jack rolled her eyes, sitting back again, this time more defensive, "Yeah, and I suppose you're gonna pull rank on me to get away with yet more insults to my taste in men?"

Martha feigned innocence, "Who, me? Wouldn't dream of it!" Jack knew damned well that Martha was thinking about a dozen things to say that would be offensive in one way or another. Sure, she couldn't read the thoughts word for word, but at least four separate emotions regarding spiteful things to say about the Master seemed perfectly clear and right at the front of Miss Jones' mind.

"Mmhm." Jack mumbled, not wanting to continue talking about that, "So you heard about the Doctor coming here?"

"UNIT picked up the TARDIS signal, but they don't usually follow up on it unless there's a disturbance of some kind." Martha said with a shrug, "They did seem to think I deserved to know about it, though."

"You miss him?" Jack asked idly.

"No. I made my choice." Martha said, just a bit too dismissively. Jack raised an eyebrow, sceptically. "Maybe sometimes." Jack grinned knowingly at that. "Tiny bit. Tiny, tiny. Then I come to my senses again."

"I think he was better as a woman, to be honest." Jack observed idly, "He made a very purposeful effort to be a bit of a jerk, when he was here."

"Yeah, she wasn't quite so insensitive." Martha agreed, nodding, "What about you, then?"

"You'd be amazed." Jack said with a grin.

"Well, tell me?"

She leaned forward, almost conspiratorially, and Martha mirrored the movement so that Jack could easily whisper to her, "I can almost read your mind." Martha's eyes widened at that, lighting up somewhere between glee and mild fear at the thought. "Almost." she repeated for emphasis.

"Wow." Martha stared.

"Yeah, there are some benefits to getting knocked up by a Time Lord." Jack said almost gleefully, sitting back again.

"Not planning on finding out for myself, thanks." Martha retorted.

Jack shrugged, "I didn't exactly plan on it, either, y'know." she observed idly, earning a half-glare from Martha. So she decided to change the subject, "So UNIT, now?"

"Oh yes." Martha said, a distinct air of smugness in her voice now.

"What is it, medical officer?" Jack asked, slightly sceptical. Martha nodded in answer. "Does this mean I have to call you ma'am?"

Martha wrinkled her nose slightly, "No. Just follow my orders to the letter."

Jack smirked faintly at that suggestion. That sounded like it could be a lot of fun... but then she turned serious and pointed out, "You should have called me if you were looking for a job."

"I wasn't." Martha said quickly, and sincerely, "This woman from UNIT rang out of the blue, said I was just what they needed, that I'd come highly recommended by an impeccable source."

Jack could only think of one person that Martha knew, who would count as 'an impeccable source' to UNIT. She couldn't help feeling a bit jealous that the Doctor had looked out for Martha like that, but completely ignored Jack for well over a century.

"He must have thought he owed you." she said, keeping her jealousy out of her voice with some effort. And once more to distract from the subject she had taken a dislike to- and at this rate Martha must think she had the Doctor's attention span!- she asked, "So, do you think you could get me one of those red caps? For personal use... I'm thinking Ianto might look good in it."

Martha pulled a face that managed to show amusement and clearly state '_Oh God! I don't want to know!_' at the same time, "You want uniforms, get your own." she said bluntly, "Now, am I going to get the guided tour?"

"Yes, ma'am." Jack said cheerfully, grinning brightly. Only now did she lazily rise from her chair and offer Martha a hand to lead her out of the office.

"Watch it." Martha warned, smiling as well as she accepted the offered hand.

x x x

After giving Martha the tour of the base, Jack had casually given out orders for the team, to investigate the problem... then retreated to her office to avoid being dragged into it herself. She hated to admit it, after so many years of charging fearlessly at the front lines, but she needed to stay back where it was safe. So, as she had been doing a lot more, recently, she allowed Gwen to take charge of the main investigation.

She was quite certain that Gwen was interpreting her reclusive behaviour as encouragement for Gwen herself to take a more pro-active role, and possibly even testing her leadership potential. She was happy to allow Gwen to believe this, as she _did _ do a very good job and Jack was quite sure that she enjoyed the responsibility more now than she had when Jack had been away. At least now Gwen had someone to fall back on, if she needed to, even if she didn't choose to use that option much.

When Ianto got a report of another attack, Gwen eagerly took the initiative, and she and Martha went off to deal with it. He kept Jack up to date on vague facts. The only survivor had named a medical research place called the Pharm. Gwen was looking into it.

A few hours later, Jack finally deigned to leave her office, and casually dropped a pile of irrelevant- in her mind at least- paperwork onto Ianto's desk. Hiding away in her office had the most unfortunate side-effect of boredom strong enough even to inspire this disturbing level of productivity. At least, it did when Ianto was otherwise occupied with the investigation, and therefore unavailable to distract her.

She joined the rest of the team in the conference room, where Martha and Owen were in the process of giving a presentation on their findings.

She just caught Martha's words, "She called it Reset." before they noticed she was there.

They all turned to look at her, Owen muttering sardonically, "She _is_ still alive." But she shrugged and sat down at the table, waving for them to continue as if she'd been there the whole time.

"So what does it do?" Ianto asked, drawing their attention back to the display on the screen. It didn't look like anything much, really... but microbiology really wasn't Jack's strong suit.

Owen shrugged, giving Jack one last sceptical look before explaining, "Well, think about when you run, you know, a virus scan through your computer, yeah? The software works its way through the files and when it finds a Trojan or a virus or whatever, identifies it and then it deletes it. That is what this stuff does to the human body. But it's not just viruses. It's harmful bacteria, toxins, even mutant cells, you name it. It's like the body's been turned back to its factory settings."

"It's the ultimate magic bullet." Martha added, "Supersedes anything and everything in the pharmacological armoury."

"But that would be the greatest medical discovery in history." Gwen said, confused as to why this was a reason to kill people.

"Exactly." Martha agreed, "Except..." she pressed a button, and the image on the screen changed to one of some kind of insect, "It comes bundled with a lethal alien parasite."

"Ah." Jack said slowly, "_Not_ so good a discovery."

"The parasite needs a healthy body until it's incubated." Martha continued, "So the parasite egg incorporates this magic bullet, which puts everything in the system back to its factory settings."

"Reset." Jack said, with a dismally dramatic tone, and a vague wave of her hands to emphasise the point, "Cute." She leaned back in her chair, with a sigh, "So, what do we know about the Pharm?"

Ianto spoke up, now, "Well, the public image is innocent enough. Private-public partnership between the government and a consortium of the pharmaceutical companies. Researching and developing cutting-edge biotechnology."

"Their IT systems are way more cutting-edge than they need to be." Tosh pointed out, sounding quite annoyed by this fact, as if said IT systems were personally offending her on some level. Jack assumed she'd tried and failed to hack them. "Plus, they've got seemingly unrestricted security clearance."

"Which means they'd have the capability to erase medical records if they wanted to." Martha observed.

"Exactly." Tosh agreed with a nod.

"And who's in charge of this place?" Jack asked, with the sinking feeling that they were facing a much more powerful adversary than they had previously assumed.

"Institute director is a Dr. Aaron Copley." Gwen informed them reading directly from a file in her hands, while Ianto brought up a profile of the man in question on the main screen.

"Yeah, I know his work." Owen said, almost bored by it, as if this guy was entirely old news to him, "He's one of the most respected research scientists in his field."

"Harvard graduate." Ianto explained efficiently, "Did research at Cambridge. Last job, Harvard Professor of Molecular Pharmacology. Came to the UK to set up the Pharm."

Jack looked at the picture of the older man, on his profile, and smirked faintly, "Hmm, he's kinda handsome, too." she said, earning very odd looks from Gwen and Tosh. Owen didn't seem to notice, or possibly idolised the man's work too much to argue, while Martha and Ianto just rolled their eyes at her remark. "D'you think he'll like visitors?"

She had just stood to leave, when Gwen asked suddenly, "You're going there yourself?" sounding only slightly hurt that she wasn't getting to lead this stage of the investigation.

Jack stopped, turning to face her and smiling brightly as she explained the plan in two simple words, "Charm offensive."

Gwen laughed, "Never a truer word spoken."

x x x

Ianto made an appointment to meet with Mr Copley that very day, and Jack and Owen immediately headed out to the Pharm.

Security around the place was clearly far greater than should really be necessary. The guards at the gate were armed, and when Jack tried to sense their feelings she read a practically military sense of purpose from them. The perimeter appeared to have armed patrols, as well, from what she could glimpse as they drove up towards the stately manor house that had been converted into the research facility.

If it weren't for the armed guards surrounding the place- covertly enough that most might not really notice, but Jack certainly did- the building might succeed in appearing inviting. Almost warm, even. To the human eye.

As Jack stepped out of the SUV, she felt a cry of pain echo weakly through her mind, for an instant... but then it was silenced. She frowned, trying to figure out where it had come from. She was able to tell that it was neither human nor Time Lord, as those were the only two races she could specifically identify now, but she didn't know what it _was_. At least this time she was capable of ignoring it.

She shook off the odd feeling, and led the way into the building, past another pair of armed guards.

Mr Copley's secretary allowed them into the office, and the man himself looked up from his desk, to face them, "Ah, yes. Torchwood, isn't it?" he said rather charmingly. This immediately put Jack on her guard. It was precisely the tone Time Agents used when they wanted people to believe they were friendly and generally harmless.

She nodded, smiling warmly, in answer, "I believe our associate informed you why we're here?" she asked, "We'd like to ask for your help in an investigation."

She placed a folder down on his desk, and then settled herself comfortably in the seat opposite Copley, without asking... and crossing her legs slightly slower than entirely necessary. She was wearing her favourite- rather tight- pants, and while the gesture was naturally more effective with a skirt, it would still serve to draw most men's attention no matter what the woman in question was wearing.

Copley _did _ notice. He leaned forward, picked up the folder, and turned to the first page, before even taking his eyes off her. Then he frowned deeply when he saw the contents of the file.

"I'm very sorry to say you've had a wasted journey, Mrs...?" he hesitated, looking up at her and turning the dismissive greeting into a question. The appointment had been made in the name Torchwood, not any of their own names. And Jack was quite sure he was also asking if she was single.

Her smile didn't waver, even as she quickly sifted through random female names in her mind, and picked the first suitable one she could think of, "Harkness." Surprise registered on Copley's face, as the name seemed familiar to him. So he must have done his homework for this appointment. "And it's Miss, actually. But you can call me Jade." she said, with the practiced ease that came from lying about his/her name since he was fifteen.

She could literally feel Owen's surprise at the sudden and random new alias, but either he failed to show it, or Copley was paying too much attention to Jack to notice. Copley did smile faintly at the emphasis she put on the 'Miss' part, though. "An unusual surname." he commented, and she wondered just what he thought of the connection.

Did he think she'd got a job working for the infamous Captain Jack Harkness out of nepotism? Or did he think such infamous traits ran in the family? She didn't have any delusions that he would appreciate the latter, given Jack's track record, if he had gotten into the personnel files. If it was the former, however, he would be a great deal easier to manipulate.

She shrugged slightly, dismissing the question as irrelevant, and asking one of her own instead, "Why is it that you think we've wasted our time, here, Dr Copley?"

"Professor, actually." he corrected, smiling faintly.

Jack resisted the strong desire to inform him with great venom precisely how much that distinction failed in every way endear him to her. She needed his cooperation, after all. So instead she smiled, "But I can call you Aaron, right?" she asked sweetly.

He returned the smile, and she could tell that it was genuine. He liked her, but he was still wary of her, "Miss Harkness, I'm afraid I won't be of much help to your investigation."

Jack shook her head, smiling in a reassuring way, "We just need to ask you a few questions. It's standard procedure, Professor."

The particular way he blinked when she used his title told her that he had accepted her joke about using his first name, and was slightly disappointed that she hadn't been serious. She wasn't that surprised. Very few men would be unhappy about a pretty younger woman flirting with them.

"We need to know if you recognise any of these people." she gestured to the file he had been looking at, and he reopened it. She got the feeling that he was utterly unperturbed by the sight of the dead faces of the victims, but he still frowned convincingly enough for most.

"Well, Jade, I'm sorry to say none of these faces mean anything to me." he lied. It was a good lie, carefully wrapped in reassuring charm, but Jack knew the tells and picked up on it without needing to resort to telepathy, "And as the institute director, I would have met them personally, had they been our trial subjects."

Jack sat back in her chair, frowning and feigning confusion really well. Owen quickly caught on that she was playing dumb, and stepped forward now, "Uh, Professor, when I was writing my MD thesis, your published works on immunology were very helpful, so thank you."

Copley smiled at the compliment, "I'm glad to be of service."

"But the thing is." Owen continued, "One of these victims survived long enough to name your organisation before she died, and a friend of one of the other two heard him mention some unnamed clinical trial... which _cured _ his diabetes."

Copley made a disbelieving snort, and shook his head, "But there is no cure for diabetes."

"Everyone knows that." Jack agreed brightly, "But I hope you wouldn't mind if we had a look around?" she asked, standing up, "It would help us to rule you out of our investigation."

Copley smiled at her, again. "Well, obviously our research suites are classified, so we can't grant you access to those." he pointed out, also getting up, and walking around his desk to stand right in front of her, "But we'd be delighted to give you the PR tour."

"A tour." Jack said brightly, eyes lighting up even as she tried _not _ to think of the double-entendre John Hart had conjured for that, the first day they'd met, "That sounds wonderful. Normally, though, Torchwood tends to mean 'access all areas'."

She got a brief flash of emotion from Owen, so clear that she could almost literally translate it into words. Words that would probably go something along the lines of, '_Bet he wants to access all _ your _ areas_'.

"Not here, I'm afraid." Copley said, sounding almost regretful, "But if you'd like to come with me, I would be more than happy to show you around the rest of the facility." He headed towards the door, affording Jack a moment to shoot a glare at Owen, warning him not to say a word.

Then she followed Copley, and smiled as he held the door open for her, "I'd love to."

x x x

The PR tour consisted of being shown around about a quarter of the grounds- the rest appeared to be classified- followed by a very inviting video for potential test subjects.

Jack was all smiles and sweetness around Professor Copley. It made Owen feel quite nauseous, first at the realisation that Jack was perfectly capable of playing dumb and innocent when she damned well pleased, and second at the sheer level of tooth-achingly _cute _ she was achieving in the process. And Copley was falling for it, hook line and sinker.

Poor sod must be desperate, not to realise she was using him... or maybe Owen was just so jaded from knowing Jack for as long as he had done.

Either way, it did serve what Owen assumed to be Jack's purpose, thoroughly distracting the man from the fact that Owen was scanning for alien life forms- of which there was a great concentration in the fenced off area behind the building- and making very careful notes of everything they were allowed to see, and exactly which doors were off-limits.

He hated to admit it, but tea-boy would be better for this job. What with the photographic memory he boasted about fairly often... in that annoying way he had of somehow making it seem like it wasn't the smug gloating Owen knew it really was.

Still, he figured he did well enough, considering. And Jack was disturbingly efficient at noticing when Owen began to fall behind, and delaying Copley to allow him to make his notes and catch up. Like she'd done this sort of thing before. He didn't dare try straying from the path they were led on, though, in spite of Jack's impressive abilities at distracting... anything with a pulse, apparently.

Owen also read over the official leaflet Copley had given Jack a copy of... and she had immediately dismissed and passed on to him, much to Copley's apparent pleasure that she wasn't showing any evidence of suspicion anymore.

He deliberately failed to comment on the fact that several of the clinical trial programs listed in this leaflet seemed to skim over the animal testing phase with no detailed results at all, simply saying that the products were considered safe for human testing. However, he did circle each of these programs, guessing they were the illicit alien drugs, and wondering if they were _all _ this Reset stuff, or if there was even more going on in this place.

The video at the end of the tour included a brief history of the building before the Pharm took it over, and a generalisation of state-of-the-art technology that may or may not really be used in this place, but certainly sounded both flashy and innocent. During the video, Owen lurked in the back of the room, far enough from Jack and Copley that, thanks to the volume of the video itself, he was able to relay his observations to Tosh, over the comms.

After Jack bade a friendly farewell to Professor Copley, it took her all of ten minutes to make the probably-shoulda-been-twenty-minute trip back to the Hub, where Tosh had reported that they already had a plan to investigate the Pharm more closely.

"I need a shower." Jack said vaguely, as soon as they stepped off the lift... and so she wandered off, leaving the rest of the team to it.

Owen snickered at this, and Ianto scowled, "Do I want to know?"

"Not really." Owen replied vaguely, "But you'll be happy to know I was there the whole time and didn't throw up."

"It can't have been that bad, then." Ianto said, seeming to relax noticeably.

Owen scowled, "If my teeth start falling out any time soon I blame her."

"Are you _asking _ for artificial sweeteners in your coffee?" Ianto sniped.

Owen's eyes widened in terror, "No! No no, definitely not! No." he retreated a few steps, backing down from that conversation, and then turned and quickly made his way over to Tosh's workstation, "Hey, Toshie, what've we got here?"

"The Pharm are in the market for volunteers." she explained, "So Gwen figures, if we can get someone to go undercover... get a look inside these buildings over here-" she indicated a map of the basic layout of the building. From what Owen recalled, that was the fenced in area she was pointing at, now, "-or better still, get to their computer system from the inside... we can find out where this Reset drug is really coming from, and put a stop to it."

"Someone undercover?" Owen asked, sceptically, "This is the plan? Bit dangerous, isn't it? I mean, you three don't have the medical training to know what to look for... and they already know me, don't they?"

"Forgetting someone, are we?" Martha's voice asked, and he looked up to see her leaning casually against the stairs behind him. She walked over to them purposefully, "I am a fully qualified doctor as well, y'know. I've also had UNIT training, and more than my fair share of experience infiltrating unfriendly territory."

Owen considered it for a moment, scowling. He liked Martha, even if she had kind of demeaned him when she first arrived. She was hot, she was smart and after that initial bout of territoriality they'd worked really well together on this case. He didn't like the idea of her going into the lion's den alone. "It's too dangerous." he announced with finality.

Martha scoffed at this, "If you knew half the danger I've handled just fine." she looked around, and frowned prettily, "Where's Jack?"

Oh, so she was gonna go enlist the boss on her side. Brilliant.

As if saying her name was a cue, Jack emerged from the locker rooms. Her hair was slightly damp, but that was the only sign she'd apparently bathed within less than five minutes. "Jack!" Martha greeted eagerly, "Owen and I were just debating our plans to infiltrate the Pharm." it seemed almost childish, in Owen's opinion. Like the kid who goes crying to teacher because she didn't get picked to play rounders.

"And?" Jack looked around at the rest of the team.

Gwen was the one to answer, stepping forward to face Jack, "We think someone should volunteer as a test subject. Get into the medical side of things, and find out what's going on. Maybe get into the computer as well." she added with a brief nod in Tosh's direction.

Jack frowned slightly, "Let me guess... Martha volunteered."

"You know I can handle it, Jack." Martha protested, "Tosh and Gwen agreed with me, but Owen-" she trailed off, frowning. She clearly didn't get WHY Owen didn't want her to go.

"Is being a prick again." Gwen put in brightly.

'_Or thinking with it... yeah._' Owen thought idly to himself.

"Nothing new there, then." Jack observed with a smile at Owen to show she didn't mean it out of malice. Or was that a knowing smile? Shit and damnation on the bloody telepathic alien that she just _had _ to get knocked up by! Jack actually chuckled, proving she had read his mind. Buggeration.

"Come on, Jack." Martha insisted, "I've been in worse places and you know it."

After a long pause, glancing at each of the other team members, Jack nodded, "Okay."

Owen sulked.

x x x

It was late, and while Martha had already applied as a test subject for the Pharm, she wouldn't be seen until tomorrow afternoon. Ianto had spent the early evening sorting out fake IDs, and other information for her. She was now known as Samantha Jones. Rule number one of fake names; pick one that you'll be able to answer to automatically.

The endings of Samantha and Martha were both similar enough that he hoped she could do that... should be fine as long as people didn't try to call her Sam.

On Jack's orders, Tosh had spent the evening setting up the appropriate tech for Martha to communicate with the rest of the team. Torchwood contact lenses. Brilliant devices, reverse-engineered for human use, from alien technology. Cameras, literally in the eyes... way better than planting a microphone on an agent, any day.

After that, everyone had gone home early, so as to be properly rested for tomorrow. Everyone except Jack and Ianto.

Ianto wasn't tired, but felt quite drained by the events of the day, and right now he wanted little more than to forget all about the entire thing. Unfortunately, his own mind conspired against this desire.

"Do you really think Martha will be okay?" he asked Jack.

"Copley's nothing to the sort of danger she's dealt with before, Ianto." Jack said with certainty. It wasn't entirely reassuring, but Ianto could always tell when Jack was putting on a brave face in spite of the odds- even when he pretended he was comforted by the attitude- and right now she did seem to believe what she was saying.

Ianto sighed, "It just seems like a big risk... sending her in there, on her own."

"Well he already knows Owen and me." Jack shrugged, "You're good at deception, Ianto, but Martha has the medical training we need on the inside, and trust me, she's good at avoiding danger, even when it's in the same room as her."

Ianto took her at her word, on this, but still had to ask, "About Copley..."

"You have some moral objection to flirting with the man who runs an organisation you want to infiltrate, Ianto?" she challenged, grinning at him.

He had to admit, she made a good point. Ianto had done precisely that to Jack, in order to get Lisa into the Hub. Although that incident had led to their current relationship, and he opened his mouth to point out that fact.

But before he could speak, she continued, "It's amazing what people can ignore when there's a pretty face to look at instead. Owen got all that information because Copley was _looking_." she smiled, and placed a reassuring hand on Ianto's shoulder, "Not touching. Promise."

"Then why'd you need a shower?" Ianto insisted.

"I hate the smell of medical facilities." she said with a shrug, "My hair stank of antiseptic." He believed her. Her expression was open and honest, and she had no reason to lie... had admitted to worse before than Owen had implied about this time. "Come on, Ianto." she said gently, taking his hand, "My office... now."

He put up no resistance as she led him up the stairs to her office. He had no objection to following Jack if she wanted him to. He knew that she wanted sex... in fact, finding a time when Jack Harkness wasn't in the mood was something Ianto didn't think was possible, but it did always seem to help when Jack was tense or worried.

Locking the door behind him, Ianto turned to see that Jack was already sitting in her chair, and when he hesitated, wondering for a moment if he had misread her and she actually needed to talk about something important, she beckoned him closer with one finger. It was impossible to resist that inviting smile she wore, and before he really thought about what he was doing, he found himself leaning over her and kissing her hungrily.

Jack arched up towards him, moaning softly into the kiss... begging him for more, as she began to unfasten his belt.

Not for the first time, Ianto considered that Jack must give off intoxicating pheromones of some kind. Before he knew what was happening he had unbuttoned her shirt... while she had already succeeded in unfastening his pants, stood up and pushed him back against the desk, pressing her whole body against his, one knee up on the desk next to him.

His hands ran up her back to try to unfasten her bra, when he felt something... else.

Jack froze, half-way through trying to give him a love-bite on his neck- at least she had the consideration to do so where his shirt collar would hide it- and slowly looked up at him, "Did you feel that?" she asked slowly.

He nodded, mind catching up with what had just happened. Entirely aside from the fact that it was just about the ultimate turn-off- with the possible exception of either Owen, or John Hart offering to join in- it was also a complete shock. He hadn't expected it at all, in spite of the fact that... yes, it probably had been long enough that it could happen.

She fell back into her chair, one hand moving to her abdomen, "The baby kicked." she sounded just as stunned as he felt.

Several seconds passed in deafening silence, then Ianto managed to get a grip on reality again and quickly rushed to her side, fastening his pants and trying not to feel too embarrassed as he did so. "I hadn't thought..."

"Neither had I." Jack said, slightly shaken, "Probably should have, but... since I don't _look_ like it should be possible..."

Ianto really wasn't sure what to say to that, so he remained silent, crouching down next to her chair in a way that he hoped was comforting to her.

Jack slowly turned to look at him and sighed, "I'm not gonna get any, now, am I?" she laughed weakly. Ianto just gave her a 'you've got to be kidding me' look, and she shook her head, "Doesn't really matter." she said quietly, "All I-" she gasped, and then sounded indignantly outraged as she declared, "It did it again!"

Ianto snorted, in a failed attempt to hide his amusement, "You sound like this is a bad thing."

"Well..." she trailed off, staring at a blank wall across the office.

Ianto's eyes widened in shock when he realised that she was seriously considering his words, rather than taking them as the joke he had intended, "Jack?!" he asked, shocked and a bit afraid at her reaction, and putting a hand gently on her arm to both get her attention and try to reassure her.

She gave him an offended look, clearly recognising his emotions, but then she shook her head, "I just... didn't think about all the... side-effects. I wasn't expecting it. That's all." she sighed, leaning her head back... but then she looked down sharply and snapped, "Oh go to sleep!" Ianto smiled faintly at that, but then she laughed, "Wow, that actually worked!"

"Telepathy?"

"Maybe..." she said distantly, still looking down, and running her hand lightly over her flat belly with an odd sort of fascination, "You should probably go home, get some rest."

The sudden dismissal and eerie quiet she was displaying were not things Ianto would ever interpret as good signs. "I want to know you're okay." he said gently, but insistently.

She looked at him, feigning confusion, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I've been depressed before, Jack... I know the signs." She frowned, and opened her mouth to deny it, but his grip on her arm tightened slightly, "Jack, please, don't lie to me."

She blinked several times, and turned her head away, "You don't want to know what I'm thinking." she said, almost bitterly, "But it has nothing to do with second thoughts. I'd never have turned this opportunity down, even if he hadn't wanted it."

"He... the alien...?"

"Yeah." she looked back down at where her fingertips were drawing odd circles of their own accord, on her abdomen, "I was actually surprised he seemed to consider it a good thing. Never thought he'd be the fatherly type."

"Honestly find it difficult to see you as the motherly type." Ianto said with a weak smile, and her saw her smile slightly in return, "So why did you decide to keep it? I mean... we lead very dangerous lives here, it's a huge risk you're running just being here in your condition..." he stopped talking rather abruptly, realising that he wasn't really helping by trying to explain why he asked. He certainly wasn't trying to make her change her mind, but he realised it could sound like that.

"You'd not believe anything I'm willing to tell you." she said softly, "That's why I asked you to leave."

Ianto frowned, "Jack... please..." he tried to focus on his positive feelings for her. She had caved in before when he'd allowed her to read these emotions, and he hoped she would trust him again. He couldn't stand to see her upset like this.

But then he saw the last thing he had expected from Jack... ever, really. Tears began to run down the side of her face. "You'll hate me if I tell you."

"How could I ever-?" he started, but cut himself short. He had once hated Jack, for Lisa, but things were different now. "Why would I hate you for wanting to keep your own child?" he asked, stunned at the very idea.

"I told the father- I told Owen- I even told John fucking Hart- I was doing this for the good of the species. They're nearly extinct, only two of them left. Even if it's a hybrid it's better than letting them die out, right?" she asked, her voice rising in pitch until she started to sound practically hysterical.

It was like a dam had broken, letting out all her pent up emotions in one go. Ianto put an arm around her shoulders in a calming gesture, letting her lean against him, but when he opened his mouth to agree with her words and try to soothe her, she kept talking.

"But... but I honestly don't care about them. There's only one decent member of that species. The rest were apparently a bunch of arrogant jerks who like to play god by _not _ intervening when they could, and the father of my child is a fucking monster! If it weren't for the telepathy, that I know it's in the best interests of the child, I'd never let that psychopath anywhere near me again."

Ianto felt slightly stunned, and really wasn't sure what to say to this. He'd known that Jack had felt no emotional attachment to the father of this child... but he hadn't thought that she would have allowed this to happen with someone _that _ bad. "Why? What did he do?"

Jack shook her head, "Only one good thing..." she said, distractedly looking down at where her hand now rested over her abdomen... making it clear that she thought this child may well be the only good thing that man had done in his _life_, let alone just to her. Ianto wondered why she had ever had sex with him in the first place, if he was so terrible... but then he thought of John Hart and considered that Jack probably didn't see being a psychopathic bastard as that much of a turn-off.

Then a truly horrible thought occurred to him... when the Doctor had been here Jack had mentioned someone torturing and murdering her, before. Someone who had done... unspeakable things to her. She had just said the father of her child was a monster... had referred to the father and her torturer both by the word 'psychopath'. He tried not to acknowledge the connection, even as it formed quite solidly in his mind. The two were the same person.

He shivered slightly, and didn't dare ask if he was right.

"So you don't care about preserving the species." he said quietly. He could think of a few species he'd met, while working for Torchwood, that he figured the universe could do without... and he trusted Jack's opinion enough not to be particularly bothered by her disregard for an entire race, "What is your reason, then?" he asked quietly.

"For myself." she answered, sounding bitterly sardonic, as if this was a bad thing.

"I still don't understand. Why do you think I'd hate you for that?"

She shook her head, "I don't think you'll ever understand, Ianto. Best you leave now before I explain."

"I'm not going anywhere, Jack." he said, determined to know the truth... and to accept her for it. He'd already dismissed her past relationship with Hart, and so many others, including the real Captain Jack Harkness. Even accepted her current condition in spite of the fact it meant she had slept with someone else while she'd been away. He knew she had a dark past, and he didn't care. He wouldn't turn on her now for one more secret revealed.

Fresh tears ran down her face now, and she started to speak very quietly, "I just want someone to love and care for." As she said it, Ianto took her hand gently, trying to reassure her. "Someone who isn't going to grow old and die on me in less than a century, and leave me alone again."

That hit Ianto like a sucker-punch to the gut. He gasped in surprise at it... never having realised she thought that way. For a moment it was perfectly clear... Jack was immortal, in the most literal and eternal sense.

Torchwood records showed Jack was over a century old already- that they knew of- and showing no signs of staying dead anytime soon. Of course mortal human lives must seem so insignificant in that span of time. Jack had forever... And even discounting the most likely Death By Torchwood, Ianto would be lucky to get another sixty or seventy years at most.

That must seem like nothing to an immortal. Like the blink of an eye in the countless millennia Jack had to... 'look forward' to. He figured it deserved the sarcastic tone as he thought it, and shivered slightly as he tried to process the very thought of being alone for so long.

"I- I'm guessing, then..." he said, still stunned by that metaphorical kick to the face, "That... his species has a, ah... longer life-span than humans?"

Jack nodded slowly, looking almost as shaken as he felt. Maybe from sensing his emotions... he wasn't sure. "Eight hundred years, average... plus a kind of genetically engineered cheat, that lets them increase their life-span exponentially... theoretically... barring accidents." That was it, in a nutshell. The odds were relatively good that this child would live as long as Jack was able to protect it.

The silence between them grew tense for a few seconds, before Ianto could find the will to speak, "I... think I understand." he said finally. It hurt to admit it, but no matter what Jack felt for him now, he would still end up meaning next to nothing to her, in the long run. The best analogy he could think of was keeping a beloved pet, but then when it dies you get over it and move on... maybe get a new cat.

"I wish you didn't." she said quietly... not bothering to disillusion him.

Or worse still, maybe she was trying to push him away, so it wouldn't hurt more when he did die. He knew how it felt to lose a loved one, and couldn't imagine what it must be like to know with certainty before you even meet them that they _will _ die before you, and you _will _ have to live with it. He idly wondered if she even did care for him, or if it was all just a happy illusion, to pass the time until something more interesting came along... but he quickly dismissed that thought as far too jaded. Maybe if she was already thousands of years old... but he really hoped not.

Once again, there was near deafening silence, as they both thought about what had been said... but finally, Ianto couldn't take the tension, and spoke slowly, "So Owen was right..." he said, shocked and horrified at the very idea that such a thing might be possible.

"About what?" Jack asked, looking at him with confusion, as if she also believed Owen being right was a rare event indeed.

"He said I was just your part-time shag." Ianto said quietly, frowning at the floor in front of him, rather than looking at her. The silence that followed this statement hurt more than words could have... she wasn't trying to deny this, either.

When she did eventually speak, it was in an odd too-casual tone, as if she was refusing to think about what she felt as she said it, "Depends how you look at it, I suppose." She didn't wait for him to ask what she meant by that, continuing to talk a bit too quickly, "In theory, a lifetime for you could still be perceived as a brief fling for an immortal."

"And which way do you look at it?" Ianto asked, warily.

Jack frowned, "I... think I'm still too young to see it that way..."

"Then what _do_ you see it as?" Ianto asked, swallowing down a wave of bitterness that threatened to overwhelm him. He hated that she was being so evasive, with an issue that affected him so deeply. Did she even know how he felt about her? _Really?_

Jack seemed unsure how to react to his tone, hesitating and looking almost afraid before admitting, "I try not to think too much about that..."

"I'm not sure how to take that." Ianto admitted. He hated feeling unsure about where he stood with Jack. The only thing worse than that was being unsure if he would live or die. Actually, they seemed to have become just about equal in his mind.

Jack closed her eyes, her earlier tears had dried now, but left visible trails down her face, "What we have is... a very good thing. I don't want to lose it." she admitted, sadly... her tone acknowledging the inevitability of that loss, one way or another.

Some of the hurt dulled and Ianto unthinkingly relaxed, "Neither do I." he said. He felt a sudden urge to reassure her that he would never leave her, but he couldn't lie. He would leave her, no matter how hard he tried not to. Instead, he said, "Having the child for that reason... isn't selfish."

When Jack turned to look at him, there were fresh, unshed tears in her eyes, "Isn't it?" she asked darkly.

"No." Ianto replied honestly, "It's human."

Jack actually laughed, a pained and practically soulless laugh, "I wonder how long that word will apply to me." she said bitterly.

"What do you mean?" he asked, concern slipping into his voice.

"Give me a few thousand years... will I be as bad as them? As him? Not care about anyone but myself? I've wondered this before, you know. You can only lose so much before you start to shut it all out." She smiled faintly at him, but it was a twisted and self-depreciating smile, "I'm already trying, even if I've failed miserably at keeping some people at a safe distance from me."

"You'll never be like that." Ianto whispered. He couldn't imagine Jack as she had described. It was just wrong. Jack was... Jack. "I know you won't be." he said firmly, reaching out a hand, as if to touch her stomach but pausing a few inches away. "You'll love this child, Jack. What you're doing is in _no_ way selfish." he repeated.

Jack took Ianto's hand, smiling a real smile this time, even if it was accompanied by tears. "It's not fair." she whispered, "There's so many people I wanted to keep with me... I'd rather grow old and die than live with the loss of another person I..." the word didn't pass her lips- she stopped herself abruptly, swallowing back the evident pain of even thinking it- but he knew she had been about to say 'love'.

Ianto smiled sadly, "I'm sorry for everyone you've lost." He didn't know what else to say. Was terrified of interpreting what she had just not-said the way it really sounded.

Jack gently pulled on Ianto's hand, encouraging him move closer, until they had their arms wrapped around each other, in spite of the arm of her chair between them, "I'm sorry... I should never have told you any of this. All I did was hurt you."

Ianto shook his head, wrapping his arms around her with a sigh, "Don't be sorry. It isn't fair that you can't talk to someone about this. I don't mind being that person." And he really meant that. He'd do anything for Jack.

x x x


	13. If The World Was Ending

x x x

**Chapter 13: I'd Rely On Martha If The World Was Ending**

x x x

The next morning- after Ianto left her alone, to go make coffee and get the base running smoothly before the others showed up- Jack pulled out the box of assorted alien technology from under her bed, once more. She smiled faintly, idly considering that Ianto would probably pitch a fit if he ever saw the apparent disorganisation of the contents of this chest... but she still knew everything that was in here and what it was for.

The two items she had considered taking out last time she had looked in here were still sitting neatly on top of all the other weapons and random bits of potentially useful junk. Now, she did take them both, before quickly locking the box and hiding it back where it belonged once more.

Owen arrived in for work about ten minutes late, and Jack immediately side-tracked him in the medical bay before he could get to any actual work.

"Hey, Owen." she said brightly.

"Is the world ending, or did Jack Harkness actually show up on time for her medical checkup?!" Owen asked in mock awe.

"That was today?" she asked with a frown. If she'd remembered, she might have deliberately made a point of being late.

"Cute." Owen said, pointing to the examination table, "Sit."

"There was corpse here yesterday." she protested.

"And I'm sure there'll be another one here tomorrow." Owen grumbled, "But I cleaned it since the last one, so sit."

Reluctantly, Jack complied, waiting impatiently while Owen did his usual tests of blood pressure and temperature and all the other standard and infuriatingly repetitive medical stuff. She had learned not to pay attention, after the first couple of months of this. Finally, he directed her over to the scanner, and got her to place her hand on the plate.

She looked the other way while he read the data there, and when he said, "Alright, everything looks fine here." she put on her standard exasperated 'of course it is, now what was the point in all that?' look, just for him.

"Now that's over with..." she said, feigning indignity at the entire thing. She knew perfectly well it was important, but didn't have to like it at all. "I've got a present for you."

Owen pulled a face, "Yeah, I'm flattered, Jack, but-" She held up the two bits of technology for him to see, and he hesitated, frowning, "What are these, then?"

Both items were small, and had been easily concealed in the palm of her hand while he'd been running his tests. One was about the shape and size of the handle of a scalpel or knife, but with no blade. The other was round, about the size of an old fifty-pence piece... or a new two-pound coin. Both were silver-coloured, and looked like they had come from the same source.

"Laser scalpel." she offered the first item to him, and he took it and turned it over in his hands. She pointed to one end, "Laser comes out there." he quickly turned it so it wasn't pointed at either of them, when she said that, "Slide back this clip here to activate it. Top button here cuts-" she indicated one of two small round buttons on the device, "The other one there seals up the cut again. It'll only reseal clean cuts, like the ones it makes, so it's utterly useless for most other wounds."

"Nice." Owen said, grinning.

"And this-" Jack offered him the second one, now, "Is a neuro-sedative disc." she explained, "Turn this here to activate it, then put it to the back of the patient's neck and press the button. It sticks a needle into the spine, which sends a signal to shut down all feeling below that point. They'll still be awake, but not feel anything."

Owen let out a low whistle, "What'd I do to deserve this?" he asked, eagerly taking the neuro-sedative disc and looking at it, as well.

"You're going to use them on me, when I get to full term, or..." she trailed off, and when she spoke again it was much quieter, "Or if I die in the next two months."

Owen's eyes widened, "Shit." he muttered, shuddering at the very thought... but yeah, if he cut the unborn child out of her quick enough there'd still be a chance, however slim, of it surviving that sort of thing. "Well, of course, we're rooting for the not-dying option... but yeah." he said, still looking at the new toys she had given him, "Thanks for these."

"Of course." she said vaguely, "That neuro-sedative's low on power, though. Don't play around with it, yeah?"

"Yeah." Owen muttered distractedly.

x x x

It was early afternoon, now, and the Torchwood team were all huddled around a monitor, watching as Martha had her blood drawn by a rather stern woman at the Pharm, who had introduced herself ten minutes ago as Professor Copley's assistant, Ms Plummer.

"It's standard procedure to take two blood tests. One of them will be analysed overnight." Ms Plummer explained, handing off the blood samples to a nurse and thanking her, before asking Martha, "So tell us the places you've been to, Samantha."

Martha paused for a moment, eyes drifting off to the side as she considered her answer, before returning her gaze to Ms Plummer and saying, "Well I visited New York with a friend once. Traffic was a killer. Oh, and the Empire State building is _so_ overrated."

Ms Plummer smiled faintly at that, "So nowhere exotic, then?"

Martha shook her head, "No, sorry."

"No, that's good." Ms Plummer assured her, sitting down and picking up a clipboard to take notes, "Travel off the beaten track can be a bit of a problem for us. If you had some exotic tropical disease, there could be unexpected side effects, and volunteers' welfare is our absolute priority."

"Oh I don't think there'll be any problem with that." Martha said dismissively, looking down at her arm where the blood had been drawn, "And of course I'm very conscious of health issues."

In the tense silence that followed, Tosh typed a command into the computer, warning Martha that this could be a bad move. Half a second later, Martha looked up at Ms Plummer once more, so that they could all see the frown on the woman's face.

"My mum's a nurse." Martha explained brightly.

Just then the door opened, and Martha looked up to see Copley standing there. She blinked in a way that was noticeable on the screen, and Jack shifted uneasily. This was the moment of truth, whether Martha would be accepted or not depended entirely on what this man thought of her.

They could hear Ms Plummer's voice introducing him, "This is Professor Copley, Samantha. Institute Director."

"Hi, Sam. Nice to meet you." Copley said with a smile.

"Hello." Martha answered politely. Jack was sure it was forced, but it was hard to tell over this form of communication.

"He's the one she needs to impress to get in." Jack said, "Tell her to get close to him."

Tosh immediately typed into her computer, and the words 'GET CLOSE TO COPLEY' appeared on the screen.

"I see you're a postgraduate student at the moment." Copley was saying, looking at the clipboard Ms Plummer had handed him.

"That's right." Martha answered with a sharp nod.

"Studying what?" he asked.

"Creative writing." Martha said. When she saw the sceptical looks Copley and Plummer exchanged she added, "So... I really need the cash."

"Well I'm sure you'll understand, Samantha, that we have a lot of applicants. We'll let you know in due course." Copley said soothingly, but it was still a dismissal, and he turned to leave the room.

"Tell her not to lose him." Jack ordered, and Tosh obligingly relayed the message to Martha.

Martha quickly moved to stand up, "Actually, there's something I should have told you." she said as Copley reached the door.

"Oh, yes?" he asked, turning back and taking a few steps towards her.

"It'll show up in the test results anyway." Martha said, seeming to completely ignore when Tosh typed '?' to her. "I did have a hepatitis infection."

"No no no, she's bullshitting." Owen muttered, "It's her way in."

"I mean, I'm fine now." Martha continued, standing up and looking from Plummer to Copley and back again, "But it stays in the blood. Strictly speaking, it's incurable, right?" she finished with her head bowed, so all they could see was the nervous way she was twisting her hands.

"Well, that puts a different complexion on things." Copley said warmly. Almost too eagerly. Martha looked up, immediately. "We could use a subject with hepatitis. Are you available to start right now?"

"Well, sure." Martha said brightly, picking up her bag, "I've brought my overnight things."

"Then all we need is your signature on this confidentiality agreement." Copley explained, leading her over to a desk and offering her the document in question.

The entire team silently cheered. Jack could sense it without a sound needing to be made, as Martha's eyes ran over the document, Tosh hit a printscreen button, and Martha signed the document.

Owen grinned triumphantly, "She's in."

x x x

Tosh and Owen had been monitoring what Ianto tended to think of as the Martha-cam, all afternoon. So far, to his knowledge, nothing much was happening there. Jack had disappeared up to her office once more, and Ianto felt she had been spending far too much time up there on her own.

Ianto, himself, was working in the archives... where he, too, had probably been spending far too much time, today. He was trying not to think about the previous night... the things Jack had admitted to him.

It hurt to know that however much either of them may wish it to be otherwise, he was always going to be just a fleeting memory to Jack, in the end. If Jack even did remember him. Much as he tried not to think about it, he wondered how long it would take to forget him.

A hundred years? A thousand? Ten thousand?

He shivered slightly, even though it wasn't that cold down here.

"Hey, Ianto." Gwen's voice called as she cautiously picked her way between shelves, eyeing their contents with extreme nervousness, and taking extra care not to touch _anything_. Once burned, twice shy, and the Archives were the worst place in all of Torchwood to go touching random things without knowing what you were doing. It was good that she was being careful.

Ianto set the box he had been about to sort back onto its shelf, and turned to smile at her... not that he believed for a moment that she'd be fooled by that, "Hi, Gwen."

"Martha got us into the computers at the Pharm." Gwen said urgently, frowning slightly as she seemed to realise that something was wrong, "We've got another trial subject, Elin Morgan. Jack wants us to bring her in."

Ianto nodded efficiently, and led the way out of the room, hearing Gwen's quick and skittish footsteps following him gratefully out of the Archives.

"And you don't have to worry about naming the bugs, either." Gwen added, "The Pharm've already named them. Mayflies."

x x x

'GET TO SAFETY'

The message from the Torchwood team flashes across the text readout of the special contact lenses Martha wore, as soon as the alarms went off. She had just been leaving the administration office, having succeeded in getting Tosh access to the Pharm's main computers.

The level of stealth and sneakery involved was such that she was actually very proud of herself.

She desperately wanted to go looking for the source of the problem, the reason the alarms had gone off... but three months enslaved, as the Master's personal maid-servant, had instilled a level of discipline in her, which strongly discouraged running off and doing your own thing when the rules were in favour of self-preservation.

Something which the Doctor had sorely failed to teach her. Not even during the two months she had spent in nineteen thirteen, with 'John Smith', who had let her get away with far more freedom than any other man of that time would a servant girl.

UNIT absolutely loved her restrained and thoughtful- yet still unerringly brave and insightful- attitude to alien threats. She had often wondered if they'd like it as much if they knew where it came from.

She quickly returned to her room, unnoticed and unhindered. The alarm had certainly not been for her absence from her room. That had gone unnoticed. She peered out her window, seeing armed guards heading towards the fenced off area. Towards where they kept the aliens.

She felt a pang of guilt at the very thought of what these people would do to an alien trying to escape. Poor thing. But there really was nothing she could do against those numbers, even if she had gone running after them as she really wanted to.

Minutes passed. The alarms fell silent. The guards wandered back across the lawn, returning to their posts.

'GET SOME REST' appeared in the corner of her vision. She nodded in answer, and settled down to sleep.

x x x

Within minutes, they got to the SUV and Ianto was in the driver's seat. "I'm programming the address into the GPS system now." she told him, in an efficient and all-business tone.

After glancing at the brand new GPS, to see precisely where they had to go, he drove off in the correct direction. Mere seconds passed, during which Ianto could feel Gwen staring at him curiously.

Then finally she asked what was on her mind, "You okay, Ianto? You seem a bit distant today."

"I'm fine." he answered automatically.

"Yeah, sure. We're all 'fine'." she said sarcastically, placing a hand lightly on his shoulder and adding more gently, "I'm worried, that's all."

Ianto wanted to retort bitterly, to insinuate that her concern- though he knew it was genuine- was really just some fear that he'd been keeping more dangerous secrets locked up on those archives than just Lisa... but he just didn't feel the usual energy to verbal engage in a verbal spar, today. Unless Owen provoked him later. Owen was always fair game. "I've just been thinking." he tried to dismiss it that way, instead.

"What about?" Gwen prodded.

"The fact that, working for Torchwood, I'll probably be dead before I'm thirty." it was an honest answer, though completely out of context.

"Oh... right." Gwen blinked, and looked away slowly, clearly empathising on some level, though he hoped she wouldn't voice it. That would just make it all seem more real, if anyone else spoke of it. Bad enough he's said it himself. He could imagine unhelpfully sympathetic remarks... 'making a difference', 'saving the world', and so on. Instead, however, she just said, "I'm sorry, Ianto."

And there was the unspoken 'I shouldn't have brought it up', that Gwen would never admit to. Just like Owen would never admit to caring about others, and Jack would never say the word 'love'. Gwen would never openly concede that some things are just best left alone.

About a minute later, he pointed to the GPS, indicating a second blinking light there, "What's that?"

"Billy Davis' mobile." Ianto gave her a politely confused glance, and she immediately explained, "The Pharm's assassin. He'll be at Elin's flat in three minutes."

Ianto floored the accelerator, hoping against all odds that they wouldn't be too late.

x x x

Assassins were always a pain to deal with.

Jack had plenty of experience with them, from all possible perspectives. He had been a victim... he had been the assassin himself... and on a few occasions, like this one, he had been the one called upon to interrogate the assassin about precisely _why_ they were killing people.

'_Why do your kind kill each other?_'

'_It's... complicated. I don't like it any more than you do._' Jack sighed as she glanced at a rather confused Janet. The Weevil had made great effort to befriend Jack, over the last couple of months, and it was actually quite fascinating to learn more about the species.

'_He seems weak. How does he hunt?_'

'_He cheats._'

The telepathic communication had been a very recent development. Not actual words, per se. Janet didn't speak any human language, even in her mind... though she seemed to understand it. This was based on emotion, expressed empathically... with startling accuracy, on Janet's part.

The more she thought about it, the more Jack considered that it could be the Weevils' natural form of communication.

'_Why did you bring me to see this?_'

'_If he's afraid, he'll tell us why he wanted to kill the girl._'

'_Your kind frighten easily._' Janet observed, seeming to find this amusing.

'_Your kind hunt us._' Jack pointed out, '_Are you surprised?_'

An audible snort was Janet's only answer to this, and she followed Jack from her cell to the interrogation room, perfectly docile, seeming almost eager to follow Jack's plan. Eager to please what she seemed to perceive as her pack-leader.

"Bloody hell, Jack!" Owen yelped, when he saw Janet follow Jack into the interrogation room. "What's that doing out without a leash?!"

He and Ianto were standing over a very comprehensively tied up Billy Davis. Ianto's eyes widened when he saw Janet there, but it was Owen- the supposed Weevil expert- who was freaked out by it.

Billy Davis- who had been doubled over and moaning in pain, in the chair he was bound to- made a great effort to straighten up, staring at the Weevil, eyes wide with fear. Owen's horror only added further reason for the subject of their interrogation to be afraid.

"Merciful Christ! Wh-what the _fuck_ is that?!" he groaned, somewhere between genuine pain and blind terror.

Janet tilted her head to one side, '_He is dying._'

Jack patted Janet's shoulder, and Owen looked like he was going to have a heart attack for a second... until Janet's lack of reaction proved she meant no harm to Jack, and her full attention remained on Billy Davis.

Jack got a rather surprising mental picture when she tried to figure out how Ianto felt about this. The usual professional mask hid it well, but when she read Ianto's emotions she got the distinct sense that the thought of his lover having power over something _that_ dangerous was only yet more of a turn on for him, rather than any reason for him to worry for her safety.

'_Just scare him. I need him to talk._' she commanded telepathically. Janet obediently snarled and lunged at Billy, who screamed in terror.

"Shit!" Owen yelped, leaping out of the way... only to stare in utter incomprehension a moment later, as Janet stopped less than a foot in front of Billy and snarled in the prisoner's face. Her teeth and claws flashing dangerously, but she didn't actually attack.

Ianto had subtly side-stepped out the general direction Janet had been headed, and he quickly but calmly walked over to stand just behind Jack, where he deemed it to be safer. "You've got her well-trained all of a sudden." he muttered.

"Just needed to know how to talk to her." Jack answered vaguely.

"Oh god, please, get it away from me!" Billy screamed, "I'll talk! Please! Whatever you want!"

"They're telepathic, aren't they?" Ianto asked, amusement clear in his tone.

"Mmhm." Jack answered, '_I think that's enough._' she suggested to Janet, adding for good measure, '_Thanks for the help._'

The Weevil backed down, snorting at Billy as if she thought he was beneath her notice, and then returned to Jack's side, crouching low to the ground and giving the very strong impression of a docile and loyal hound.

"Aren't we proud of ourselves?" Owen grumbled, eyeing Janet sulkily. _He_ wanted to be the one to figure out the Weevils, but Jack just had to go steal his thunder.

"Okay, Billy." Jack said, stepping forward, "You've been on a killing spree, why?"

"I work for the Pharm!" Billy answered, desperately, still staring at Janet as if she would go for his throat at any second, "They'd been giving people this Reset drug. But there were these side effects. Parasites or something. They were gonna die anyway, so I had to get rid of them before any weird symptoms showed up... in public."

Jack was standing right in front of him, now, and he turned his attention fully to her. Seems the monster's handler frightened him more than the monster itself. "How long has Elin got before these... symptoms... become a problem?"

"I... I dunno." Billy said, shaking his head, terrified enough that he truly wished he could answer her, "Maybe... maybe another day. Tops. She was supposed to be eliminated today, I- I figured early hours would be easier, like. She was asleep, and last time I waited till the last minute these- these _bugs_... they just swarmed out of the guy's mouth!"

"Owen, go see what you can do for her." Jack ordered.

Owen nodded curtly and quickly left the room. Elin had been brought into Torchwood at the same time as Billy, and Gwen was currently keeping an eye on her. Hopefully twenty-four hours was enough for Owen to find a way to kill the larvae without harming the host body.

As soon as Owen was gone, Billy convulsed violently, groaning in pain.

'_He is dying._' Janet repeated.

Jack's eyes widened and she suddenly put two and two together. "Those 'bugs'..." Jack asked, her tone dropping its threatening nature for a moment, "You didn't inhale any of them, did you?"

Billy groaned, and nodded, but seemed unable to vocalise an answer.

"Jack, we have a problem." Tosh's voice called down, over the comms.

"You don't say..." she muttered, watching Billy warily. She wasn't sure whether to find the ironic and poetic justice that the assassin was now infected by the very parasites his company had injected into innocent victims amusing... or to feel pity for him.

x x x

Jack rushed up to the main floor of the Hub, leaving Ianto and Janet both with instructions to keep an eye on Billy, try their best to keep him alive, and to cooperate with each other.

Ianto had given the Weevil a sceptical look, but then shrugged and agreed, while Janet had politely bowed her head to Ianto and given Jack the strong mental impression that she would never dare harm her pack-leader's 'chosen mate'.

She paused to catch her breath, just behind Tosh, at the computers... then looked at the screen. It showed Martha's view of a bright white room lined with a vast array of medical instruments. Martha's eyes darted quickly around the room, but judging by the angles, she was on her back and quite probably unable to move.

"Tell her we're watching." Jack said immediately, "She's got to be terrified."

Tosh nodded curtly, and typed in the same message she had used to demonstrate the text communication in the first place, 'U LOOK WE C'.

Martha visibly blinked, then scanned the room more slowly and carefully. This didn't yield any further information, but Martha did seem to have calmed down a fair bit. Her gaze moved to her left wrist, bound securely, then to her right which was exactly the same.

Then they heard the sound of a door opening, and Martha raised her head to stare past her own feet, at the door.

Professor Copley had just entered the room.

"What's going on?" Martha demanded, staring at his entirely calm and impassive face. She saw Ms Plummer enter the room behind him, but her focus remained on him. "I'm here as a clinical volunteer. You can't treat me like this!"

"You lied to us, Samantha." Professor Copley said calmly, while trading his jacket for a lab-coat.

Martha glanced at Ms Plummer to reveal the much more worrying sight of the woman working quietly with IV bags and needles.

She turned quickly back to Copley, "I've no idea what you're talking about!"

"I'm quite sure, in fact, that you do know precisely what I'm talking about, Samantha." Copley said calmly, taking a seat next to where Martha was restrained. "We've analysed your test results. You really are something special."

Tosh frowned, "What's different about her, Jack?"

Jack shook her head, "Nothing that I know about... then again, researching someone's medical history isn't something most people do when they meet new people, is it?"

"No... that's just Owen." Tosh muttered.

Copley was standing, now, and had brought up an image on a computer screen, which Martha was watching carefully. More microbiology. "Do you know what lymphocytes are, Samantha?" Copley asked.

She looked at him, now, "A kind of white blood cell." she said slowly, as if uncertain. Still playing innocent, "Part of the immune system."

"Well, your lymphocytes are really quite extraordinary." Ms Plummer said casually.

Martha didn't look at her, however. Her gaze was now unerringly focused on the screen next to her. Even though Jack had precisely zero understanding of the true meaning of the image, she felt ill at the sight of it... and was quite sure Martha felt the same way.

"We've never seen anything like them before, not in a human being." Copley explained casually, "Aliens are a different matter."

"Aliens?" Martha asked in a derogatory and disbelieving tone, "Don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't you just love it when they monologue?" Jack muttered sarcastically, "It's like something out of a Bond movie."

"Your lymphocytes and God knows what other cells have mutated." Ms Plummer's voice said, drawing Martha's attention back to the disturbing work the older woman had been doing with needles. She now had an odd, clear, faintly pinkish liquid in an IV bag, and was hooking it up to the plastic tubing of a drip.

"Mutated, how?"

"Under the influence of radiation." Copley explained, "Radiation that's not found in the temporally stable environments on Earth."

"I don't know what that means." Martha said, not taking her eyes off that odd pink liquid, as Ms Plummer hung it above her. The word 'RESET' was printed on the bag, where she- and therefore Tosh and Jack as well- could clearly see it.

This was very bad. They had to stop this! ...but how?

This was all happening miles away, out at the Pharm. And even if they got there in time, how could they get _into_ the building? Then she realised... they had a way in sitting in their interrogation room downstairs!

"Keep an eye on her, Tosh!" Jack ordered, turning and charging down to the holding area.

As Jack turned into the interrogation room less than a minute later, she skidded to a sudden halt, staring in shock. "What the-?"

Billy Davis was crumpled up in his chair, blood all over the place. And Ianto was holding a knife.

Janet sat back in a corner, watching with her head tilted to one side like a curious and quiet fascinated canine.

"I- I didn't have a choice." Ianto said shakily, dropping the knife. A weak groan from their prisoner, showed that Billy was still alive. "There was something moving in his stomach... Owen wasn't answering the comms... I- I just-"

Jack quickly ran over to Ianto, running a hand through his hair in a comforting gesture... while carefully avoiding touching his bloodied hands, purely out of vanity rather than disgust.

"It's okay, Ianto, you probably saved his life." She glanced at Billy, who groaned weakly again when he saw her looking at him. She felt a dark sense of victory at his evident pain. "Call it karma." she added, before tapping her commlink, "Owen, what are you doing up there?"

"Five more minutes, I'll have it!" he said quickly.

"Five more minutes, Billy Davis will be dead. Get down here and patch him up!" she ordered.

"What happened?" Owen griped, "Was Janet feeling peckish?"

"No, Ianto stabbed him."

"Vicious bloody tea-boy." Owen grumbled.

x x x

Ianto was washing his hands, in the locker rooms. Jack was standing in the doorway watching him with concern. He felt sick.

"I could have killed him." he whispered, still shaken, as he stared at the blood being washed away down the sink in front of him.

"You saved his life." Jack said softly, her tone comforting.

"Was that a good thing?" he asked, looking up at her in the mirror.

"That remains to be seen." she answered, smiling faintly, "It's alright, Ianto... you did the right thing."

"I've never killed a human before." he said, looking down at his hands, again. They were physically clean, but he still didn't feel right about it.

"You've seen enough death as it is." Jack observed, "The fact you don't want more is a good sign." there was an odd waver to her voice, and he straightened up, turning around to face her directly.

"You say that like you know..."

"I used to enjoy hurting people." she was staring blankly at the sink, rather than looking at him, now, "It was part of the job description, and if I showed hesitation or remorse I wouldn't have been any good at it."

"This was when you were a Time Agent?" Ianto asked, frowning. She nodded. "Now's not the best time... but if you ever want to talk about it...?"

"It's in the past." Jack said sharply, looking up at him with fire in her eyes, "I'm not that person anymore."

She turned and left the room, leaving Ianto feeling a bit better about himself, but suddenly very worried about her. That final statement had held a ring of denial about it, that made him feel incredibly uneasy.

x x x

Billy Davis was alive.

He had faced certain death because of these damned alien bugs, and somehow survived it. Because the quiet guy that'd blended into the background during his interrogation had stabbed him.

Go figure.

The stabbing had killed the giant bug that'd been trying to _eat him from the inside out_. The snippy medic had extracted the dead bug, and then cleaned, sewn up, and bandaged his wound. All the while, announcing what a shame it was that he wasn't going to die from it after all.

While it still hurt like hell, he felt a whole lot better than when his guts were being _torn apart_ because of that giant bug.

He was alive.

Alive, and very happy about it.

So happy, in fact, that he eagerly agreed to repay his captors- his saviours- by helping them to infiltrate the Pharm.

He waited in the medical bay while the snippy guy finished working on the woman Billy had been ordered to kill. The guy had used blood samples and really flashy technology- apparently also alien, just like the bugs- to come up with a bug-poison that wouldn't kill the girl, and then he'd injected it into her arm.

Within minutes she was unconscious but stable. Apparently killing the bugs undid all the good side-effects of this Reset drug, but at least now she wouldn't die from it.

The cute brunette then took the girl away, saying she was going to leave her at a hospital. When Billy expressed confusion at why they didn't just take care of her themselves, the snippy guy had explained vaguely about, "Top secret organisation, don't want her awake to snoop around... but it'll take all of us to deal with the Pharm." and then adding, "She'll be fine, now, though."

"That's good." Billy said gruffly, "I didn't _want_ to kill her, y'know. It's just, that was the only way my bosses knew to stop those bugs."

Owen nodded curtly, "They don't know what they're messing with. We'll show 'em."

Billy smiled nervously and nodded. It made a pleasant change to be on the good side, for once.

In spite of his cooperation, the cute brunette with the odd teeth, who had brought him in in the first place, kept Billy at gunpoint while the lot of them piled into his van to head up to the Pharm. He drove as fast as he could, and much to his great discomfort, in complete silence.

He nodded professionally to the guard at the gate, who let them through without any questions asked, as usual. So he drove them on up to the main building.

The hot chick, who'd sicced a monster on him, jumped out of the van as soon as it came to a stop, and ordered, "Tosh, Gwen, Ianto, check out Zone A. Owen and I will go after Martha. Let's go!" The snippy medic, jumped out after her, and they headed on into the building.

Billy obediently drove the others on round to the back entrance of the fenced off area. "This is where they keep the aliens?" the cute brunette asked.

"Yeah. It ain't pretty, mind." he pointed out, as the lot of them got out of the van. All except Billy. The quiet guy, who'd stabbed him earlier, held the driver-side door closed on him.

"How long have you been working for the Pharm, Billy?" the quiet guy asked, perfectly proper and businesslike, standing just outside the van and looking up at him a bit too carefully.

"Er, almost six months." Billy answered.

He eyed this guy warily, as a medicine bottle came out from an inside jacket pocket, and six pills were shaken out, which were then offered to Billy. "Take these. Now." the quiet guy ordered him.

Billy wasn't sure he should, but the order seemed pretty official-sounding. Like his old army bosses. He had to ask, though, "What are they?"

"There's no point telling you." the man said vaguely, "You'll only forget."

Now Billy understood.

At least the guy wasn't gonna kill him. He'd still live. He nodded and swallowed the pills, immediately feeling drowsy. Just before he slumped down over the steering wheel of the van, he managed to say, "Thank you."

x x x

As Jack and Owen made their way through the familiar corridors of the Pharm's main building, Owen asked, "We got a plan, yeah?"

"I'm beginning to wish I'd brought Janet..." Jack muttered, "The threat of a Weevil ripping your throat out seems very effective, don't you think?"

Owen smiled weakly, "How did you figure out how to talk to them?"

"Same as everything else that's been going on with me, lately." Jack said vaguely, "I think I'm getting mood swings, too."

"Right now?" Owen asked nervously.

Jack shook her head, "No, but last night..." she looked at him, seeing the serious expression on his face, "It's not that bad."

"Shoulda told me this morning." Owen grumbled, "Jack, we're storming an illegal medical facility, waving guns at people, and you're telling me you're getting _mood swings?_ As your personal physician, I order you to the medbay, first thing tomorrow afternoon. Got it?"

"Yes sir." she said with sarcastic aplomb, turning down the corridor towards the treatment rooms, ahead of Owen.

Most of the doors in this corridor where dark, and showed no sign of life behind them. One, while still closed, had light showing underneath. This had to be it.

Jack indicated the door, and Owen nodded... then she pushed it open quickly, recognising the back of Copley's head and aiming her gun in that direction, before Owen could even see past her.

"Hands above your head!" she ordered sharply. Copley complied, staring in mild-mannered surprise as she demanded, "What have you done to her?"

Owen had moved to Martha's side, looking at the IV bag with dismay, "Tell me that's not Reset." he said, pulling a face as he read the label and then began removing the tubing from Martha's arm.

Martha, herself, appeared to be delirious, sweating and whimpering in pain that was clear even without the need for telepathy. Jack flinched slightly, finding the pain of someone she had strong protective feelings for much harder to block out of her mind.

"She's survived the larval stage, the only subject ever to do so." Copley explained, earning a fleeting glare from Owen, even as he checked Martha's pulse, and vital signs on the monitors. "Fascinating." Copley whispered, in awe of his own experiment, "Turns out these bugs practice sibling cannibalism. Only the strongest individual is left now. God knows what happens next."

"Put a stop to this!" Owen ordered, horrified and disgusted by what this man had done to Martha.

"I can't." Copley said simply. Jack raised her gun, to aim more deliberately at Copley's head, and the man turned to add pointedly, to her, "I don't know how."

Owen carefully examined Martha's abdomen, where something was _moving_ under her skin. He and Jack shared a worried and nearly desperate look, for a moment... but then a metaphorical lightbulb appeared over Owen's head, and he grinned triumphantly.

"Ianto's a bloody genius!" his eyes widened in mild horror and he quickly added, "God, Jack, please don't tell him I said that!"

"What?" Jack asked, confused, "I mean, of course he is, but...?"

She gave up on asking, instead focusing on keeping her gun trained on Copley, while Owen rooted quickly through his medical kit, searching for something.

"He called you Jack?" Copley asked, slightly stunned. She just stared coldly at him. "_You're_ Jack Harkness?!"

"Surprised?" she asked coldly, "You deal with alien biology. Imagine what can be done with their technology."

She felt a cruel sense of satisfaction when his expression turned to the typical, comical, 'Oh my god, she's a he!' look of nausea. It was almost as amusing as the look on the Master's face every time Jack had flirted with him, as his prisoner.

Of course, the Master hadn't made the same distinction, when Jack was temporarily female.

"Jack." Ianto's voice called over the comms, and she turned her full attention to this, her free hand moving up to her ear so that even Copley could tell she was listening to someone not in this room, "I can give you a report on Zone A. They're holding dozens of creatures. They seem to be using them as test subjects."

Jack scowled, utterly revolted, and yet entirely unsurprised at this revelation.

"They're farming chemicals from the aliens." Ianto explained, "They have what looks like nine different species, held in tanks. Mayflies, Hoix, even a Weevil."

Jack pulled a disgusted face, both at the thought of the way these people were effectively torturing the creatures, and at the thought of what Weevil bodily fluids might have been used for... and then decided she was better off not asking.

"Understood." she said darkly, "See if there's any way to get those aliens out of there without putting yourselves in danger. Then tell Tosh to go for total shutdown." she stared right at Copley with a hateful glower, "This place is a torture chamber."

"I don't need to debate medical ethics with you." Copley said with disdain.

"You abused the Mayflies, you turned them into parasites!" Jack snapped.

"We didn't understand how the Mayflies reproduced." Copley explained calmly, "We tried to limit the damage."

"Yes, let's elaborate on the exact nature of this abuse." she hissed, stepping a little closer, with the gun still aimed right at his face.

It was at this moment that Owen rather pointedly cleared his throat, and Jack turned sharply to see what he wanted. He was holding up the two medical devices that Jack had given him that very morning.

Her eyes widened in comprehension, and she nodded immediately, "Yes, do it, Owen!" she ordered, face lighting up with a sense of hope.

Owen eagerly obeyed, carefully manipulating the neuro-sedative, and clipping it to the back of Martha's neck. She immediately stopped writhing in pain, her whole body going limp, but still showing vital signs no less stable than a moment ago. Copley watched with evident confusion and fascination, and Jack stepped back slightly, to ensure that she could keep an eye- and a gun- on him, even as she watched Owen work.

It didn't take him long, and soon he had carefully extracted the Mayfly from Martha's abdomen, holding it carefully in a set of tongs as he sealed her up again with the laser.

Jack moved forward and took the neuro-sedative off Martha's neck the instant Owen was finished, checking the limited charge left on it. It really wouldn't last for much longer, and there was no way to recharge it, on Earth in this century.

"Jack, we have a problem." Gwen's voice said, over the comms, sounding upset, "We've got the Weevil out, but then Ms Plummer set off an alarm that's locked down all the other holding tanks. She's unconscious now, but they're all trapped."

Jack turned to where Copley had been a moment ago- intending to order him to free the aliens if he liked his handsome face in one piece- only to find that he had disappeared. She hesitated, cringing slightly before giving the order, "Try what you can, but if you can't free them, then put them out of their misery."

Gwen acknowledged the order reluctantly.

Jack shut off the comms, and swore quietly in a language she'd only ever heard the Doctor use before.

"I know what that word means, Jack Harkness." Martha groaned out, in a very good attempt at an authoritative tone, considering what she'd just been through. Jack just grinned weakly... but then followed Martha's gaze to the squirming Mayfly Owen had taken out of her. "That's it?" Martha asked, staring at it with fascination.

"Yeah." Owen said with a faint smile, "I think we should name it Bob."

As soon as he said this, the insectoid creature stopped struggling, and went limp with a faint squeaking whimper.

"Owen..." Jack said, staring in shock at the dead Mayfly, "You are officially banned from naming the aliens." She looked at Martha, and added, "He named our first Weevil. It only lasted a week."

Owen was running a scanner over the Mayfly, now, and he felt the need to explain, "I didn't know poultry was poisonous to them. I learned, didn't I?" he protested, "And seems this one here couldn't handle our atmosphere... must have been another stage in its development we didn't know about."

x x x

Owen followed Jack out of the Pharm, helping Martha to keep up. She seemed fairly capable of walking on her own, just not as fast as either he or Jack felt the need to vacate these premises. He had one arm around her, while he held her arm over his shoulders.

A warrior for the righteous cause victorious, carrying his wounded comrade away from the battlefield. Really, if you think about it.

"I am prescribing rest and recuperation for you, madam." he said in a tone of mock seriousness, "And a few days in bed, preferably under my supervision." he added slyly.

Martha laughed weakly, pained and still holding her stomach, "Owen, I don't know how to break this to you." she said not wasting her energy on either sympathy or evasion in her tone, "I've got a boyfriend."

"Yeah, but has he saved your live like I did?" Owen insisted, as they stopped a safe distance from the building, but also not too close to the rest of the team at Billy's van.

"That's complicated." she said, giving him a slightly confused look. If it weren't for what she said next he would have attributed to stress, or possibly even concussion. "Alternate reality paradigms and homicidal maniacs hell-bent on world domination all accounted for... yes, I'd say he did."

Owen stared. "Oh." He looked over to the others.

Gwen was angrily but professionally frisking a rather austere woman in a lab coat... and it took all of Owen's willpower not to think too much on the times she'd played bad cop and frisked him a fair bit more enthusiastically, in the Hub.

Jack, Ianto and Tosh stood close together, looking at Tosh's computer. None of them looked happy. Ianto had been whispering to Jack, who looked downright upset at the news. Probably that all the aliens- which she'd taken to trying to save just as eagerly as the humans- were doomed.

Jack gave an order, and Tosh pressed a button.

"Facility shut down in progress." The words were called out from a speaker system in and/or around the building behind them. "All personnel must evacuate immediately."

Lights started going out.

"Facility shut down in progress. All personnel must evacuate immediately."

Bye bye Pharm.

"Okay, let's go." Jack commanded, clearly.

They all started to move, Owen guiding Martha gently, maybe a bit over-protectively, but after all that she'd been through tonight he felt he was justified there.

"Did you really think I was going to let you just walk away?" the familiar voice of Aaron Copley demanded, from behind Owen, causing him to stop, "You've ruined everything I've worked for."

Owen turned to see that he was pointing a gun at them. It wasn't specifically aimed at any one of them, though Owen and Martha were closest to him and Owen instinctively put himself between that weapon and Martha.

"Now, let's not be stupid, okay?" Owen suggested, hands held out to show he was unarmed and defenceless. Most people with guns tend to stop and think, for that. "We're both rational men, scientists." he continued, trying to calm him down, "I know you don't want to shoot."

_BANG!_

The last word had barely left his mouth when the gunshot echoed in the cold night... and then everything slowed down.

Searing pain in his chest. Twisting, tearing, wrenching agony.

He tried to breath and it hurt. Tasted of copper and fire... rising from his heart, like bile from the stomach... burning.

Drowning in the air, on his own blood.

And then the world fell away, like someone had just ripped the ground out from under his feet.

The last words he heard- through roaring in his ears rising up around him, drowning out all other sound- came to him from over a great distance... but branded into his mind so indelibly, they may as well have been carved on his forehead.

"You're next."

His last coherent thought- before darkness pulling at him from all sides, blurring the world around him, even as he stared wildly through it, tried to fight it- was a prayer, to a god he didn't even believe in, that his murderer wouldn't get the chance to hurt Martha as well.

x x x

Jack stared in shock, as she sensed the wave of malice from Copley, almost the same instant he fired the gun. From the moment she saw the gun, to the moment it was fired, his mind had been bitter and resentful... but nothing this violent.

The decision to fire had been made in an instant of hate.

Jack was still wearing her kinetic energy shield, if she had been closer, if she had thought quickly enough to fight the phenomenally strong self-preservation instinct she had developed over the last few months... maybe she could have stepped in the bullet's path, the shield _would_ have stopped it.

It was her mistake... and instead of saving him, she stared in horror as the bullet struck Owen in the chest. She flinched at his pain, screaming in her mind.

"You're next!" Copley said to Martha, turning the gun on her.

Jack didn't hesitate, pulling her own gun and shooting him. Three times, very quickly. The first bullet hit his right hand, forcing him to drop his own gun, the second struck his left shoulder, and third hit his left knee. Nothing fatal, but it felt so good to sense his pain, after what he had just done to Owen.

"Owen! Can you hear me, Owen?!" Jack only vaguely heard Martha speaking, behind her, now, and turned to see that she had dropped to her knees at Owen's side. The desperation in her voice showed that she knew it was futile, even if she didn't want to admit it. No human could survive that wound, regardless of medical genius, or even the most advanced of alien tech.

"You've got to help him!" Tosh cried.

Jack wanted to try, but there was nothing she could do. Instead, she backed away a step from the others, a strange sense of calm washing over her now, as Martha moved to inject a needle into Owen's chest.

"Owen, speak to me!" Martha pleaded.

Jack turned her head away, as she felt Owen's consciousness fade away. As he finally lost the fight and gave in to the inevitable. She had been able to tune out death from her telepathy, before, even without the Doctor's training... but she liked Owen, had been very protective of him, and it wounded her deeply to lose him.

When her gaze fell on Aaron Copley- Owen's murderer- her pain grew, twisted and turned to bitter, hateful, vengeful rage. A deep sense of power washed over her, drowning out all thought of mercy... and she saw fear in his eyes at the cold stare she aimed his way, as she slowly stalked towards him. She had seen the Doctor send enemies fleeing in terror with a look, the Master reduce his foes to quivering wrecks with a glance, and she somehow knew this was the same... the fire and righteous fury of an eternity burned through her blood.

She knelt next to her wounded victim and struck him hard across the face, with the back of her hand. "You disgusting, vile creature." she hissed at him.

She could suddenly sense that everyone else was watching her, but she didn't care. She had her hand on the man's throat, squeezing just enough to hurt and make it difficult for him to breathe, without actually strangling him. She didn't care what they thought. He had taken one of hers, and she would make him suffer unto his last breath.

With her free hand, she held her gun to his stomach. It was her only tool, but Jack was experienced in the art of torture, and could still use the remaining bullets to cause him a great deal of pain. She slowly pulled the trigger, savouring the agonised yell that forced its way past her grip on his throat, as the bullet tore through his body.

It wouldn't be fatal, not unless he bled out for long enough.

"Jack!" Martha's horrified cry was almost lost in the blinding rage clouding her mind.

It certainly went completely unheeded, as Jack leaned closer to Copley, whispering, "Beg me for mercy." Oh, how she longed to see him in tears, apologising and begging for mercy when she had none to show him.

He choked, possibly too weak to respond, but this just made her want to hurt him more. She raised the gun to his already injured shoulder, pressing the muzzle to the existing wound and causing him to groan in pain.

She was just about to shoot again, when someone else grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back, off of him. She struggled, and even managed to elbow her new assailant in the stomach when she was dragged to her feet, before turning around to face them. Ready to yell at them to just back the fuck off, that this psychologically stunted animal deserved every second of his punishment, and if they tried to stop her she'd hurt them too.

But then she saw who it was, and froze.

Ianto was holding her by the arms, forcing her to face him directly, and staring at her with far more concern than fear, in spite of the deep and heartfelt rage that he must have seen in her eyes. "Jack, calm down. Please." he said gently.

She trembled slightly, and dropped the gun, trying not to look into his eyes, somehow resenting the fact that he entirely _failed_ to show any sense of horror or accusation for her behaviour.

But now she had nothing to attack, and her conscience managed to filter through her rage.

Her first shot, to Copley's hand, should have been it. All he had needed... disarming. That had been the right thing to do, but Owen's pain had hurt her... and his death had driven her to vengeance. She wanted very little more than to rip this man's heart out with her bare hands, right now.

"Killing him won't bring Owen back." Ianto said gently, as he wrapped his arms around her. A distant part of her mind recognised that he really should know better than to try to comfort her, when she had just been torturing a helpless- if in her opinion entirely deserving- victim.

"I wasn't going to _kill_ him..." Jack growled darkly, but that seemed to make absolutely no difference to him.

In fact, it made him hold her a little closer, now running his fingers through her hair, trying to soothe her. "No... that would have been too kind, wouldn't it?" he said, with that dark sarcasm he usually reserved for talking about the evil aliens when they're being cheerfully cruel.

Jack shook her head and pushed away from him weakly. He allowed it- recognising that she didn't have the energy to resume her assault on Copley, right now- but he kept one hand resting lightly on her shoulder just in case.

She turned to stare away from everyone else, eyes now on the darkened and dead building that had been the Pharm. Only now was she beginning to realise that tears had been running down her face... and she wasn't sure for how long, but guessed that it had probably started when she had sensed Owen's death.

She heard movement, far too loud in the deafening silence. Ianto's hand left her shoulder, and she turned her head in time to see that Copley had been trying to flee.

She smiled cruelly, watching Ianto handcuff him, in spite of his injuries. She just caught the threatening words, as well, "Better hold still now. If any of your vital organs fall out of the holes my girlfriend just made, I'm not picking them up."

A rustle from the direction of the rest of the group, followed by soft footsteps, told Jack that one of them was approaching her, slowly.

She turned around to see Martha watching her. A deep frown of disapproval was written across the younger woman's face, but she was hesitant to come too close. The fire had all-but faded, but Jack still felt the burning embers of her earlier rage... and the surprise Martha began to show now she met Jack's eyes seemed to hold a sense of recognition for the darker power Jack had tapped into.

She turned her bitter gaze back to Copley, not wanting the others to see what she was thinking right now. How much she still wished to tear that man limb from limb while he screamed and cried in agony.

She was aware of Martha taking the last few steps closer to her- quickly, as if hurrying to do so now before her nerve failed in the face of such fury- before whispering urgently, "You don't want to be like _him_, Jack." The emphasis made it clear who she was referring to, and it wasn't Aaron Copley. She was talking about the Master.

Jack turned to stare at her in surprise now, "I wasn't-" Martha put a hand on Jack's arm gently, stopping her from denying it, and Jack shook her head, "I've done worse than that-" she gestured to Copley, "-before I ever met _him_." she whispered back sharply.

Any further defence of her clearly unforgivable reaction was cut off, however, as Martha leaned against her shoulder, hiding her face. Trying not to cry, or at least to hide the fact she was crying from the others. Without even needing to think about it, Jack wrapped her arms around Martha, holding her protectively, in a vain attempt to comfort her.

She saw Gwen kneeling next to Tosh, now, holding her in much the same way, as Tosh cried openly on her shoulder... and Jack blinked back more tears of her own now. She couldn't believe Owen was dead. Didn't want to accept it.

Oh, how Jack Harkness hated the mortality of those she cared about.

x x x


	14. Is It Still Necrophilia If I'm Conscious

x x x

**Chapter 14: Is It Still Necrophilia If I'm Conscious?**

x x x

"The time is twenty-one-thirty. This is Doctor Martha Jones. Autopsy on Owen Harper, Caucasian, age twenty-seven. Torchwood Officer five-six-five. Time of death witnessed at approximately twenty-thirty. Autopsy begins."

Owen's body was laid out on the table, the bullet-wound in his chest visible for all to see. Autopsies were a standard procedure in Torchwood, even when cause of death was so blatantly obvious. Gwen and Tosh were sitting together, behind the railing, watching and trying to comfort each other. Ianto stood closer to the doorway, alone.

Martha picked up the knife to begin the autopsy, wishing that she didn't have to be the one to do this. It was a disadvantage of such a small operation under the Torchwood administration. If there had been more employees, like Torchwood One had had before Canary Wharf, then it would have been possible to find someone more capable of remaining detached.

Behind her surgical mask, Martha bit her lip painfully to distract from these thoughts, from memories of Owen when he had still been alive. She lowered the knife, preparing to make the first incision, when she heard Jack shouting.

"Stop!" She flinched, and quickly pulled the knife back, away from Owen's body, turning to look up at Jack, confused, "Nobody touches him till I get back, is that clear?"

Everyone was staring at Jack, as she turned and stormed out of the autopsy room with an air of determination and purpose. Martha couldn't help the feeling of relief, that she didn't have to do this to Owen.

Not yet, at least.

x x x

"I had wondered, Captain." the girl said, placing the Empress Tarot card down on top of the more familiar Knight of Swords, with a knowing smile. She looked no older than twelve at the most, exactly the same as she had looked the first day Jack met her, almost a century ago... and Jack was fairly certain that the girl was actually significantly older than her.

Jack understood the Tarot cards, only because the girl had taught him. She had a fascination for them, and had designed her own deck, using his image for the Knight of Swords (in spite of his chosen name, the Knight suited him better than the Jack of Swords). She had once claimed only to draw this card for him.

The Empress card often signified fertility. Jack laughed nervously, seating herself opposite the girl. Did everyone with any observation skills have to mention this? Even _Janet_ had offered her congratulations.

The girl now proceeded to draw Temperance from the deck, and place it beside the other two, "Consider it?" she suggested, meeting Jack's eyes. Temperance was balance and understanding between opposites and enemies.

Jack shrugged, "Not my decision, is it?"

The girl smiled serenely, and placed another card beside the other two. The Devil. "It's his."

Jack barely suppressed a laugh. In typical mythology, the title would seem to fit him perfectly, but in Tarot the Devil card implied something far less malicious; one who was persuasive, aggressive, and controlling, but not truly evil. It's still the most dangerous card you can draw from a Tarot deck, though. And with this girl's gift of sight, that implied a meaning Jack would have to consider in more detail, later.

Jack watched her for a moment, as she examined another card from her deck. When she gave no indication of further wisdom, waiting for Jack to speak now, she asked, "You know why I'm here?"

Without really looking, the girl picked up a card from the deck and placed it on the table, still regarding the one she held with a slight frown. The new card was the seven of wands; determination to retain something of value. Close enough.

"Can you see where it is?" Jack asked her. The girl was the one who had told him about it, in the first place. Not in detail, though... just enough to know that it was the reason the girl wasn't long-dead.

She lowered the card she had been looking at, face-down on the table, "You'll owe me a favour." she observed calmly. That should go without saying.

"Well...?"

The girl turned over a different card, which had also been face-down. Technically, it was the Tower, but in her deck the design was that of a church, with the cross on the roof as the point struck by lightning.

"They hid it in a church?" Jack asked.

"No." the girl said, with the slightest shake of her head, "When the people found out what it could do, they built the church on top of it."

Jack nodded, standing to leave, "If I told you not to use it, would you listen?" the girl asked, causing Jack to stop, and turn to face her.

"Shouldn't you know the answer to that?" she saw the girl frown at the Devil card, then pick up the other card she had been looking at before, which Jack hadn't seen the face of... but she showed no inclination to share what she was reading into that card.

She shook her head, and left the girl alone.

x x x

Jack stared up at the building, knowing better than to go inside. She could sense the Weevils... more than two is too many to fight, and so she didn't bother counting past twenty. Instead, she turned around sharply, and got back into the SUV. Every problem has a logical and solution, even if it wasn't the easiest option. The safest way, the right way to do this, was not to go charging in unprepared. If she wanted to survive it, she needed to enlist some help.

x x x

Ianto watched with surprise as Jack stalked right past them, into the Hub, less than half an hour after the initial order to leave Owen be. She didn't even pause as she shouted out, "No autopsies!" pointing in their general direction without bothering to look, before disappearing into the vaults.

Ianto blinked at the doors down to the vaults, in surprise, then rolled his eyes. He would never fully understand Jack's behaviour, but it seemed to have gotten worse since she turned into a woman. Then again, could any man ever really understand women?

It was eight minutes later that she returned... and everyone was quite thoroughly shocked by what she had done. Following behind her, quite sedately, like a loyal hound, was Janet the Weevil.

"What the-?!" Gwen demanded, stunned.

Janet paused, growling at Gwen, and Jack sighed, turning to face the Weevil, "What did we just talk about?"

Janet whined, and snorted irritably in Gwen's direction, but then followed Jack again as she left the Hub, without any further threats.

"That was worrying." Ianto noted.

"I'll say." Gwen muttered, staring after them, wide-eyed. She had looked less surprised when Jack had come back as a woman.

x x x

About two hours later, Jack and Janet returned. Jack was carrying a box, and Janet was whining balefully, a constant stream of sound that could only be protest, but without any action to back it up.

"Why not?" Jack demanded, finally turning on her. Another, slightly lower pitched whine, and Jack hesitated, "You're sure?" The Weevil growled. Jack rolled her eyes, "Alright then, I'll be careful. Happy?"

The Weevil shook her head, like a dog shaking off water, and growled again. Ianto glanced down at his coffee. He didn't remember putting any hallucinogenic chemicals in it.

"What's going on?" he asked, clearly, from where he stood next to the rift-controls.

A threatening growl alerted him to the presence of another Weevil. As if Janet being allowed out without a leash wasn't bad enough. This second Weevil was a bit shorter than average, and had some scars on its face and torso, as if it had been attacked by something. Ianto got the strong impression of a runt that had been bullied by the rest of its kind.

Jack turned on the new Weevil, pointing at it rather sharply and all-but growling, herself. She then quickly set the box down on the nearest desk, turned and jogged over to Ianto. She trotted up the steps to where he stood, and putting both hands on the sides of his face, she pulled him towards her and kissed him firmly on the mouth. He could all but smell the pheromones from her, but it wasn't in any way romantic. It felt more like a declaration of possession.

In fact, that may well have been exactly what it was, because the second Weevil backed down almost immediately.

"What the-?" Ianto asked.

"Weevils have a pack-mentality. Janet considers me the pack-leader... this one here was on his own, and she liked him, so-" Jack began to explain, but Ianto interrupted.

"Wait, are you telling me you and Janet went out to get her a boyfriend?!"

"That wasn't the original purpose of the mission..." Jack muttered, before continuing her explanation, "But because Janet decided to take him in, he sees me as the pack-leader, too. I just officially declared you my mate, in front of him, which means he won't try threatening you again."

Martha and Gwen shared a brief glance, and then started giggling nervously. Tosh was lurking in a corner, watching, but not showing any inclination to join in this conversation.

"How have you managed to communicate with the Weevils, anyway?" Gwen asked, glancing at Ianto and trying not to laugh at the his attempts to avoid blushing at what Jack had just so very bluntly said.

"They're empathic. Extra-sensory perception... very useful skill." Jack said dismissively, "Anyway, I'm going to take Brad and Janet down to the cells, then I have work to do. No autopsies! In fact, Martha, put him in the freezer, for now."

"Yes, sir." Martha replied, with a mock-salute and a trace of sarcasm in her voice.

Without even the slightest rebuke for Martha's tone, Jack turned on her heel and led the two Weevils away, picking up the unidentified box as she went.

"Brad and Janet?" Gwen asked, starting to laugh, in spite of herself.

Ianto shrugged, "It's not the choice of names that surprises me, honestly."

x x x

It was Tosh who found Jack, the next day, sitting opposite Janet's cell with paperwork all around her. She was reading over a printout, and humming to herself, a soft melody that Tosh didn't recognise.

Tosh shot a wary glance at the Weevils, and decided that the best way to behave, knowing their pack mentality, was deference to Jack. She approached with her head bowed, and sat down next to Jack, leaning against the wall, making sure that her own head was at a lower height than Jack's and waiting for Jack to speak to her.

Jack looked up, flashing a brief but forced smile at Tosh, "Hey."

"What are you up to?" Tosh asked eyeing the scattered- yet somehow she was sure perfectly organised to Jack's mind- papers on the floor, and keeping her voice soft. It wasn't difficult to do, she wasn't exactly in the highest of spirits at the moment, anyway. At least the Weevils seemed to accept her behaviour... Janet made a slight whining sound that really seemed like it held a positive emotion of some kind.

Jack reached out one hand, and tilted Tosh's chin up, to meet her eyes. To the pack mentality, that should be interpreted as an invitation to speak frankly and not defer... so that the Weevils wouldn't have reason to complain when she started questioning and hopefully helping out with whatever project Jack was working on.

"Research." Jack answered her question, "I have a plan, but I want to cover all my bases. Make sure it's safe, before I try it."

"What is this plan?" Tosh asked, failing to find her usual enthusiasm, in light of recent events.

Jack pulled out a sheaf of papers from one file and handed them to her, still concentrating on the page she was reading. While Tosh read the file, she noticed Jack alternating her attention between her own reading material and Janet. Occasionally, Janet would make a sound, which Tosh interpreted as disagreement... even though Jack made no sound whatsoever. It was as if their communication was purely telepathic, and the noises Janet made were only for emphasis.

Brad was staying well out of it, curled up in the back corner of the cell, as if highly offended by the subject of the debate.

When Tosh had read enough of the file to realise what Jack was doing, she looked up in shock, "You can't!" she said horrified, "Remember what happened with Suzie?" she heard a sound from Janet that made her think of agreement, and saw the Weevil looking right at her.

"Yes, which is why I'm doing my research carefully." Jack said, "Besides, this is a different glove. Seems they do come in pairs... and I owe Ianto a fiver." she added sardonically.

"And Suzie's glove was the right-hand." Tosh murmured, flipping through the pages of Jack's research, "Left is usually associated with more negative connotations. Sinister."

"Yes, so I've read." Jack said, offering Tosh another handful of papers. Tosh now scanned these, reading a story of a child brought back from the dead by a miracle... but bringing 'Death' with her. It was accompanied by an accurate sketch of the glove, and several images which greatly resembled popular depictions of the Grim Reaper.

"Death?" Tosh said with a frown, "Doesn't sound like such a good plan, Jack." Janet once more expressed agreement with Tosh.

"It said that Death was defeated by Faith." Jack said, still going through paperwork, "I'm trying to figure out what that meant. If we can plan it out beforehand, then there's still a chance of bringing Owen back safely."

"_'I shall walk the Earth and my hunger will know no bounds'_." Tosh quoted what she was reading, "_'Death was desirous of one and a dozen souls, to bring about his reign on the Earth. With but one remaining to be consumed, his rise was brought to a halt by an act of Faith'_." Tosh laughed nervously, sounding weak and hollow even to her own ears, "It's capitalised. I thought of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for a moment there."

It had already crossed her mind, considering the side-effects of Buffy's resurrection, which had also brought something bad back with her. But thinking about Buffy made her miserable, because she still remembered the day when Owen had first introduced her to that show.

Jack's head jerked up from what she had been reading, and she stared right at Tosh, smiling, "Eliza Dushku does run very well, doesn't she?" but then her expression turned serious, as she added, "You may be on to something there, Tosh."

x x x

Three days later, and Ianto, Gwen and Martha were in the middle of lunch- pizza, and still meat-free, even two months after the incident with the space whale- when Jack and Tosh finally emerged from the vaults. Tosh was holding several folders full of paperwork and looking grimly determined, while Jack was holding the unidentified box from before and positively _beaming_.

"Jack has a plan." Tosh said seriously.

Jack set the box down on the table with far more dramatic flair than was really necessary, and announced, "We're getting Owen back."

There was stunned silence, echoing with the metallic clang the box had made when it had hit the table.

"Jack-" Gwen began sceptically.

"We've done our research very carefully." Jack reassured her, as she opened the box, and removed from it a gauntlet. Just like Suzie's Risen Mitten.

Gwen gasped in horror, "No, Jack! You can't!" she protested, "You can't use that, not after Suzie!"

Jack turned to Gwen, and carefully placed a hand on her arm, "Trust me, I know what this glove will do."

"It's the left one." Ianto observed, warily moving closer so that he could see properly.

Jack nodded, but it was Tosh who spoke up now, "There are records for this gauntlet." she explained, "It says that it was used, five hundred years ago, to bring a girl back from the dead."

"A girl I talked to just three days ago." Jack added.

"The records explained the side-effects in detail, and I- I think Jack's plan might actually work." Tosh said, shaking slightly, somewhere between fear and anticipation... like she couldn't stand the thought of Owen being gone and this just _had_ to work.

"Everybody dies, Jack." Gwen said softly, earning a sharp and clearly pained look from her for it, "We can't just use some cheat every time we feel like it happened too soon."

Jack just stared at her for several seconds, then asked in an almost blank tone, "Why not?"

Gwen backed away from her a step, shaking her head, "Jack, the gloves are dangerous. Please, don't."

Jack stared her down, "I'm bringing Owen back." then she turned to the others and ordered, "Tosh, Martha, bring him up to the medbay."

Martha frowned, glancing at Tosh, who looked desperately hopeful, before turning to stare at Jack, "I hope you know what you're doing."

As soon as they left, Ianto slowly approached Jack and whispered softly in her ear, "I'm not going to try to stop you from doing this, Jack. I trust your judgement, and Tosh's research skills. But if you ever use one of those things on me... I will kill you."

x x x

Gwen was sulking dourly, in the corner of the medical bay/autopsy room... it was both today, go figure. Ianto was practically Jack's shadow, as Jack herself watched Tosh and Martha wheel Owen's body into the room. She was wearing the gauntlet, now, holding her left forearm out, away from her own body.

It was cold, unnaturally so, even for the material it _looked_ like it was made of. And it _hurt_ to wear, like it was biting into her hand, even where the cut of the metal shouldn't cause such chafing.

Once Martha had set up the medical scanners, Jack stepped forward.

"Are we sure we want to do this?" Ianto questioned, one last time.

"Yes." Tosh said quietly.

"Certain." Jack confirmed.

Martha didn't answer, simply worked diligently on the machines around Owen's body.

"I thought the glove didn't work for you." Gwen observed sharply, a bitter note in her voice.

Jack frowned, looking down at the gauntlet she wore, before placing it under Owen's head, just as they used to do with Suzie's. It sent a vicious chill up her arm and felt as if it was sucking the life out of her, for just _touching_ him with it. She was shaking slightly, but for the most part she succeeded in hiding her discomfort. She hadn't even tried to activate it yet.

"It should now." she said distantly. The records- both referring to this gauntlet, and Torchwood's own reports on Suzie's glove- said it required empathic attunement, and/or the will to reach the deceased. And Jack had both.

Gwen's scowl deepened as her excuse for not trying failed so miserably.

Jack focused through the gauntlet, channelling her consciousness the way the Doctor had shown her was necessary for active telepathy. Reaching out for Owen, searching for a hint that he was still there. It felt like the temperature in the room suddenly dropped, and she shivered. But then she forced herself to ignore the physical world, mentally calling out Owen's name, begging him to hear her and come back.

Contrary to vague allusions Jack had made in the past, death was not a pleasant experience. It was not a peaceful release. It was suffocating darkness and desperate, sickening fear. Jack always hoped and prayed that if there was an afterlife, all (s)he ever saw of it was 'limbo', that there was more to it than this. Or at least unknowing oblivion, rather than this oppressive blackness she felt now as she searched for Owen's mind through the thick and blinding shadows.

It seemed like an eternity before she felt his consciousness, lost and afraid. She wrapped comforting emotions around him and pulled him back to her. Soothing whispers in his mind. _You're safe now, I've got you._

Owen gasped for air, reminding Jack quite eerily of her own resurrections. She caught him as he tried to sit up, hugging him with her free arm while still holding the gauntlet to the back of his head. "What- what happened?" Owen asked, stunned, "Where am I? Where _was_ I?!"

"It's okay, Owen, you're okay now." Jack promised, but this was entirely undermined when Owen looked down at himself and yelped.

"Oh God I'm shot, he shot me!" he yelled, staring around, "Where am I? This isn't the hospital, this is the autopsy room. What am I doing here?"

"Owen, calm down, it's alright." Jack said gently, "I know it's a lot to take in right now, but I promise you're going to be okay."

"Jack... oh, no!" he said, trying to turn his head to see the gauntlet, "What's that? What is that?!"

"Another resurrection glove." Jack said, rather bluntly, but still in the same soothing tone, "But it's different." She spared a glance at Ianto, "Time?"

"Thirty-six seconds." he reported, and Jack immediately turned back to Owen.

"I keep a hold of your for two minutes... then you stay." she said gently.

Owen stared at her, wide-eyed... but then he just had to ask, "And the catch?" Jack looked away from him. "Jack, what's the catch?! Is this like what Suzie did to Gwen? I'm not doing that to you, let me go!"

Jack shook her head, looking right at him again, "It's different. It won't do that."

"You're sure?" he asked hesitantly.

"We've calculated the risks." Tosh informed Owen quietly, "We know what it'll do, and how to deal with it."

Owen nodded shakily, and silence descended on the room. Time ticked by slowly, and Owen finally muttered, "Not that I don't appreciate you comforting me and all..." He looked up at Jack, pushing her arm away so that he wasn't being held close to her chest, "But I really prefer this angle better when I find the woman sexually attractive."

"You're about the only one on the planet who doesn't, Owen." Martha said, smiling weakly.

Jack chuckled, still keeping the gauntlet on Owen's head, even as she otherwise let go of him.

"Ten more seconds." Ianto pointed out. They all waited in tense silence. Gwen was actually biting her nails, as Ianto began the countdown, "Four... three... two... one."

And the machine Owen was hooked up to flat-lined.

Everyone jumped at the sound, but Owen just turned his head to stare at the machine... certainly not collapsing and dying again. "Is that supposed to happen?" he finally asked.

"Uh..." Martha was busily checking all the connections, and then she brought out a stethoscope and began checking Owen himself, "I don't know." she said unhelpfully.

"Possibly." Jack said, frowning and slowly lowering the hand that wore the gauntlet. Owen continued to sit up under his own power. "The records were sketchy on exactly what state you would continue to exist in."

Martha's eyes widened and she dropped the stethoscope, staring at Owen in shock, "You've got no heartbeat."

"Oh that's just brilliant." Owen grumbled.

Jack quickly pulled the gauntlet off her hand, and set it down on the table, while Tosh stepped forward with a scanner. After a quick scan of Owen, and then Jack's arm and chest, Tosh announced brightly, "Nothing, we're clear."

"Of what, exactly?" Owen asked.

"Biochemical energy transference." Tosh said simply, smiling and looking away from Owen's gaze. Almost blushing if Jack thought about it. "Just double-checking there's no Suzie effect."

"We're calling it that, now, officially?" Ianto asked, with morbid amusement.

Jack felt a sharp stabbing pain in the back of her mind, and turned instinctively in the direction of the physical source. The gauntlet. She tilted her head to one side, staring at it... unnoticed by the others, as they all focused on Owen. Martha fussed over medical scans, while Tosh and Gwen watched her progress intently.

It was Ianto who spotted Jack's odd staring, "Something wrong?"

"Yes." Jack said bluntly, and now she had everyone's attention. "I don't trust that." and she pointed sharply at the gauntlet. She had no rational reason to feel this way, the headache could simply have been a typical result of using the thing. That didn't change the fact she was offended by its continued existence.

"It's not doing anything, Jack." Owen dismissed, "Tosh just confirmed that, didn't she?"

Jack ran her fingers through her hair, over where the sharp pain had been, still unsure, "No, better safe than sorry." she said, "We should lock it away."

Ianto immediately moved to obey... but when he did, the glove suddenly leapt at him.

Jack had been tense enough to lunge at it, and grabbed the gauntlet in midair, tackling it to the ground. It felt so cold it burned to touch, as she landed on her knees, holding it in both hands as it struggled. It had a force as if it was actually attached to an arm, and it managed to tear itself away from her grip and land on the floor.

It quickly righted itself and skittered towards her... kind of like Thing, from the Addams Family... except made of metal. Jack was on her feet in an instant, and stomped on it with the heel of her boot, but failed to even leave a dent.

"Contain it!" she snarled, kicking the thing off, as it tried to claw its way up the leg of her pants.

It was Gwen who complied with this order, picking up a dustbin, upturning it over the thing before it could go for anyone else... and then promptly sitting on said dustbin, to ensure it stayed put. Everyone had panicked a bit, but now they were silent as the gauntlet scrabbled ineffectively against its plastic prison.

"Just to clarify." Owen snarked, "You had that thing on my _head_."

Jack flinched at the accusation, "It didn't do anything like that before. There's no record of it doing that!"

Tosh grabbed a folder from nearby and began rifling through the papers, "The gauntlet was named as the Shield Hand of Death." she said quickly, "Maybe it defends against any attempt to interfere with the process?"

"What process?!" Owen demanded, horrified.

"I'd like to hear this one, as well." Martha said, arms folded as she stared Jack down.

Jack glanced at each of the others. Only Tosh was on her side, and seemed to be keeping well out of the line of fire here. "The gauntlet was historically recorded to bring back the dead. At a price. It brought another being with them, named as Death itself by whoever made the record."

"So I'm not just dead... I'm gonna be possessed, as well?" Owen complained, "This just keeps getting better and better!"

"No. It manifests through the host, but can't use the host body itself." Tosh offered, and Jack was greatly relieved to have her support now, "It might _try_ to possess you, but it shouldn't get a hold on you. The records show that the last host was the only one who was able to successfully banish the creature."

"I have to fight _that?!_" Owen asked, pointing at the rattling dustbin in obvious distress.

"No." Jack said with a tired sigh, "You have to fight the demon _that_ is working for."

x x x

Owen was miserable.

He had been shot, trapped in some hellish otherworld that Jack seemed adamant was _not_ the real afterlife, resurrected quite painfully, might have been smothered by Jack's boobs if he'd still needed to breath, told he had to fight a demon that would try to possess him, and then brought down to the cells like some common Weevil!

He wasn't sure which of these offended him the most, they were all pretty-much equal... but he'd have to say the demon-fighting and Jack's boobs were tied in first place for what scared him the most.

He sulked in the cell, trying to ignore the baleful whining of Janet and some other Weevil Jack had apparently named Brad.

Rocky Horror was one of his favourite movies... why'd Jack have to go ruin it with _Weevils?!_

Everyone else was making preparations for this bloody demon thing that they seemed to think was just a minor side-effect of the process, like a mild reaction to the medication. It was _not_ that simple, but no one seemed to care that he was fucking terrified by all this. Except Gwen. Gwen seemed to agree with him that the whole idea of resurrecting him had been just plain _dumb_ in the first place.

He felt like shit.

It had been a few hours since he had come back from the dead, now, and so far he really wasn't seeing the bright side of it.

"How're you feeling?" Jack asked, approaching his holding cell.

"Like I just died and went to hell." Owen sniped.

"Hmm..." Jack sighed, sitting down so she was leaning against the plastic wall of his cell. "It'll take some getting used to."

"I don't _want_ to get used to it!" Owen yelled, "I want my _life_ back!" he flopped down to the ground right next to her, "I can't _feel_ anything, can't _taste_ anything, can't _smell_ anything- in this situation that last one might well be the only saving grace."

Janet snarled in the near distance, taking offence at that remark.

"Sorry, girl!" he called out, and she whimpered as if he'd rebuked her. He mentally swore, and then rolled his head around on his neck so he was looking sideways at Jack, "I've got nothing. I'm already dead, I just haven't stopped moving around yet. At least when you come back you get it _all_ back."

"But you're still here." Jack said gently, "That's gotta count for something, right? Even if you can't feel _physically_, you've still got your mind, your soul. You're still _you_."

Owen considered this idly for a moment, then shrugged, "Maybe. Depends on this demon of yours, now doesn't it?"

"Faith seems to be okay with it." Jack said idly, "She defeated it when she was only ten, and last I saw she was having a relatively good time playing psychic card-games in a bar near St Mary's."

Owen snorted, "She was ten?"

"Yeah."

"Bet she doesn't regret the lack of blood flow required to have sex. Or the lack of a digestive system to process alcohol."

"She did once tell me she missed the taste of sweets." Jack said idly, "And it's such a shame, too, she died before anyone in Europe had ever even heard of chocolate."

Owen snorted darkly, "Charming, Harkness. Real charming." He sighed dramatically, "I bet I'll not even heal if I so much as sprain a wrist." he grumbled.

"Probably not." Jack said with a frown.

"Wouldn't even feel it." Owen continued morbidly, prodding the back of his hand with one finger, and not feeling the contact even though he could see it, "Could cut my head off, I'd probably end up wandering around with it under my arm like freakin' Sleepy Hollow."

Jack smiled faintly, "That's almost a funny mental picture... if you weren't serious." A pause, then, "You could wear a good neck-brace... maybe a ruff. It'd be great at parties, you could say you went as that ghost from Harry Potter, Nearly Headless Nick. Everyone would wonder how you did it."

Owen let out a hollow laugh, really not feeling the humour. It _was_ funny, he just was in no mood to think so at this point. "I tried to sleep. Can't do that, either." he pointed out. "Lack of sleep can cause cardiovascular problems, hypertension, weakened immune system... none of that matters when you're already dead. Kinda wish it did, then maybe I'd be able to shut this all out for a few hours."

"I usually only sleep for a couple of hours a day... unless I've recently died or been injured." Jack muttered. Owen knew when Jack had been hurt, (s)he tended to sleep like the dead. Which was ironic, as apparently the dead did not sleep.

"Not the same. Least you get those couple of hours." Owen insisted, "Sleep deprivation can also lead to mental breakdowns, y'know." She didn't answer that one, and Owen sighed again, "I just don't feel like I'm all here... but then I can't get away from it, either."

"I'm sorry, Owen."

He turned to really look at her, and asked, "Why'd you bring me back, Jack?"

"Because I wasn't ready to give up on you." she said quietly, "I guess I was hoping for a miracle." She looked up at him sadly, "And I still am."

Owen snorted, "If a ten-year-old girl can do it, I damned well can, too." he said with rising determination.

Jack grinned, "That's the competitive misogynistic spirit!" she cheered, causing him to actually laugh. His first real laugh since he'd died.

x x x

Ianto, Gwen, Tosh and Jack were all gathered outside the cell that held Owen, preparing for the inevitable fallout from his resurrection. At Janet's request, he had been placed in the cell as far away from her own as was possible.

Tosh was scanning the force-fields they had set up, and keeping tabs on the readout from the monitor that Martha had made Owen wear. Ianto and Gwen were either there out of morbid curiosity, or moral support. It could have been both.

But then the sharp and clear sound of footsteps drew their attention to Martha, who stopped in the doorway at the end of the hall, "Jack." she said, coldly... her entire demeanour was defensive and angry, "He wants to talk to you."

The others exchanged a Look- yes, it deserved the capital letter- but then Martha stepped to one side, and a very familiar man entered the corridor.

The Master.

Ianto immediately drew his gun, aiming it steadily at the Master, while the others expressed confusion. "He looks familiar..." Gwen muttered, frowning in concentration as she tried to remember just where she had seen him before.

"That's Harold Saxon. Prime Minister for a day, before he murdered the President of the United States." Ianto said coldly, his gun steadily trained on the Master's left heart, "He's supposed to be dead."

"And how many other people here does that apply to, right now?" Owen sniped from within his cell. Jack had to admit, he did have a point.

"All of you, really." the Master said, "And don't point that thing at me." he added, waving his hand dismissively in Ianto's direction. Ianto's hands trembled, but he didn't lower his weapon.

"Don't play mind games with my team." Jack snapped at him. The Master turned a calm stare on her, and she asked, "What do you want?"

The Master sneered, but then he spoke, sounding as if he might have been laughing at her if he weren't so angry, "I leave you alone for five minutes, and you go and do something so phenomenally reckless that it might well kill everyone on Earth. You're almost as efficient as I am!"

"It's been seven months." Jack retorted folding her arms defensively.

"Five minutes, from my perspective." the Master observed, smirking, "And I'm not exaggerating when I say that what you've done here was spectacular enough that I was able to sense it ten galaxies and three million years away."

Jack rolled her eyes, and wondered if she could distract him from ranting at her with a scanner image of their unborn child. Their child... even thinking it still felt strange... she usually tried to think of it as _her_ child. Instead, however, she asked, "And what? You're here to help?" The derision in her tone made it clear she didn't believe this.

"Yes." the Master answered, with a nod, "I really don't want that... thing to attack you."

Jack frowned, "Nice to know you care." she sniped, knowing perfectly well that he really wouldn't care if she died, if it weren't for their child.

"When I was still in my first life, I tracked it." the Master continued, stepping closer to them, ignoring the fact that Ianto was still aiming a gun at him, "Legends of being able to bring back the dead, how could I not be curious?"

Jack placed a hand on Ianto's arm, silently telling him to lower the weapon. Reluctantly, he did so. "So you know what it is... what it's going to do?" she asked.

"That's right." the Master replied, with a sharp nod, "And I can help you deal with it." His eyes turned to Owen's cell, now, scanning it intently, as if he could actually see the force-fields Tosh had constructed. "I see you have a fair idea, already..." he murmured, walking past Jack and reaching out to touch the edge of the energy field. "But this isn't nearly strong enough. And the slightest EMP flicker will pull it down completely."

"Jack, who is this, really?" Ianto asked, now. There was a hint of jealously in his tone.

"You know about the Doctor?" Jack asked, and the Master's hand twitched, causing sparks of light to flicker across the energy field. He really looked like he wanted to strike her for this comparison, however accurate. Ianto nodded, "He's the same species... psychotic megalomaniac, makes John Hart look positively sweet and innocent, but at the moment I believe he's on a short leash." The Master looked highly indignant at this.

"I insisted on seeing the restraint band, before allowing him inside." Martha said with a sharp, military nod.

"She insisted on a demonstration." the Master said darkly, turning to face Jack again.

Martha smiled too-innocently, when Jack looked her way, "I just told him to pinch my hand until it hurt, so that I could see that the restraint band was functioning properly." Something in her tone, while sweet, held a deep sense of malice for the Master. She shrugged and held up her left hand for them to see a slight red mark on the back of it, "Totally worth it."

"Masochist." the Master muttered, before adding in a cheerfully sardonic tone, "I'm beginning to think I did something to offend her."

"How do you know him, Jack?" Owen asked, his tone measured, calculating.

"Met him while I was away, with the Doctor." Jack answered, meeting Owen's eyes meaningfully. _Yes, he's the father, now shut up about it._

Tosh cleared her throat, "Since an incident a few months ago, with a group of Cell One-One-Four Sleeper agents, we've refitted all our systems with failsafes against EMP surges." she said, drawing attention back to the more immediate situation.

"Sleepers?" the Master asked, turning sharply to stare at Jack, who just shrugged. "No, seriously... Sleepers?"

"There were only four of them." Jack protested, defensively, "And we disconnected one before they activated."

The Master rolled his eyes, "Why is the Earth such a popular target? I mean, I only pick on this planet because the Doctor's so overprotective of it... what's everyone else's excuse?" but before anyone could even attempt to answer, he sighed dramatically, and turned to Tosh, recognising her as the technically-minded one, "Nevermind that, now. How about this lovely young lady shows me where you're controlling the psyonic shields from, and I'll help upgrade them?"

Tosh blushed slightly, but nodded, not seeming to trust herself to speak, at the moment.

"Hypnotise anyone, and I will kill you." Jack warned him, before turning to Ianto and Gwen, "You two keep an eye on Owen, I'm going to make sure the psychopath doesn't try anything."

"My name is the Master."

"And I'll call you that when hell freezes over." Jack growled, turning to lead the way back up to the main floor of the Hub.

"If it'll make you use my name again, I'm sure I can arrange it."

x x x

Tosh and the Master had spent the last hour communicating in fluent technobabble, while working together at Tosh's computer station. Jack was fairly sure that the Master was doing this to annoy her... and it was working. She was rather worried as to what he could do to Tosh. Martha and Jack watched from a relatively safe distance, while Ianto gave regular updates on Owen's condition, over the comms.

Finally, however, Martha couldn't take it any longer, "How come you know about this glove thing?" she asked, her question directed at the Master.

"I already said, I tracked it, when I was younger." the Master answered, "Immortality is something I've always wanted." he said, with a smirk and a wink at Jack.

Martha glanced at Jack, with a frown, but saw that the Master's insinuation had received only a cold stare- almost blank if it weren't for the anger she was trying to hide- in return. So she returned her attention to the Master, "So what do you know about it?"

The Master frowned as he returned his own attention to the computer screen, "Its purpose isn't to bring back the dead. That's just a side-effect. The glove belongs to a being known as Duroc... a few translations and interpretations of the name include 'Lord of Death', 'Born of Death' and 'Devourer'. Using the glove is meant to summon Duroc from another plane of reality. The first few times I found it, Duroc had already become fully manifest, and destroyed the entire population of the world it had been brought to."

Martha scowled at Jack, now, "And you thought this was a good idea, Jack?"

"The historical records showed that it was possible to stop it." Jack protested.

"And it is." the Master said, with a nod, "It only reaches the peak of its power, once it has consumed thirteen lives." A sardonic smirk, as he looked up at them both, "Good thing I was stalking it from a safe distance, don't you think?"

Martha understood that one, at least. A Time Lord is supposed to have thirteen lives, and the Master did say that he had been tracking Duroc during his first lifetime. "So how do we stop it, then?" she asked.

"Contain it." the Master said simply, pointing to something on the screen, which prompted Tosh to immediately begin typing, "Keep it away from the living, and it will be significantly weakened. But only the body that was used to summon it can banish it." he glanced up, smirking, "I believe Duroc considered this a negative side-effect, the sentient soul needed as a vessel to bring it across was also capable- if it had the will to do so- of restraining it."

"How do you know all this?" Martha asked.

"Research, in the ruins of the worlds Duroc had ravaged. And then I found one world that had survived." he smirked darkly, as he added, "After that, I ran a test, to prove my theory."

"Test?" Martha asked, but Jack was seething now.

"Earth." she hissed coldly, "You brought that girl back, five hundred years ago?"

"At that point, there was no significance to this world." the Master said idly, "Aside from the fact that the gauntlet had fallen through time, to a primitive town in the unfashionable end of the galaxy, on a world I thought no one would miss if I screwed up."

"Impersonating a member of the clergy?" Jack asked, suddenly laughing.

The Master snorted, "It was that or be tried for witchcraft. Ignorant apes that I had to deal with at the time."

"Why her?" Martha asked, suddenly curious. The girl in the story had still been a child, and she hadn't thought the Master would have the compassion to choose her out of the goodness of his hearts.

"She was the most recent and least damaged victim of the plague." he answered dismissively, "And it didn't hurt that she was naive enough to honestly believe good could always triumph over evil... that gave her the will to challenge Duroc, in spite of its obvious power. Such an appropriate name, she had, too. Faith."

Martha glared, but the Master showed absolutely no concern for this. "Owen might be a problem." she muttered.

"He who has nothing to lose will risk everything." the Master said calmly, before turning back to the computer. He checked over something on the screen, and lightly patted Tosh on the shoulder, "I think you can do the rest, yourself." he told her, "For a human, you're very good at this."

Martha scowled as she saw Tosh blush. She could imagine the Doctor saying something like that, but for the Master to compliment a human he'd just met? It seemed wrong, and she wondered what he was trying to prove.

But then he turned and looked at Jack rather pointedly. Jack nodded, and stood, beckoning him to follow her. Martha also followed, and soon the three of them were in the medbay. Martha hovered in the doorway, watching. She considered it her duty to keep an eye on the Master, as long as he was here. Jack might not be entirely objective, given her current condition.

x x x

Jack approached the scanner, intending to show the Master their child, but he stopped her, his hands on her shoulders in far too intimate a gesture as he turned her to face him, and placed one hand on her abdomen. Jack's eyes flickered closed, darting under her eyelids as she became aware of his mind.

A truly terrifying thing to witness... she could hear his thoughts and sense just how powerful he really was... and she wondered if the distant smell of iron and steel in the air was her imagination, or some side-effect of her new awareness of his presence. If it weren't for the restraint band, he could completely destroy her, and she knew it.

She idly wondered why the Master had never tried to break his mind, during their time on the Valiant.

'_Where's the fun in that? The mind doesn't heal the way your body does._' She could sense the sadistic grin on his face, even without opening her eyes.

But then all other thoughts faded into insignificance, as he brought her focus to the life growing within her. She felt a wave of emotion from him that she had never thought he would be capable of... genuine and unconditional love. This was his child, and he would do anything for it. The thought was both beautiful and terrifying. Knowing what the Master was capable of... if she weren't naturally so protective of the child herself, she might almost feel pity for anyone who would wish them harm.

The Master leaned closer, and kissed her lightly on the lips. She quickly put her hands up to his shoulders, pushing him back, eyes now wide open as she stared at him, "No." She understood why he had tried to do that- gratitude, almost affection, most definitely _not_ love- he was trying to thank her for this in the only language he believed she would really understand.

He didn't seem to understand that she didn't want this sort of affection from the monster who had tortured her for months. Yes, she had fucked him, but that had hardly been a friendly act. She did not want him to show this kind of emotion for her, and she certainly couldn't return it.

He showed confusion, both on his face and in what little he still allowed her to see of his mind, and she tried only to let him to read the least of her surface thoughts, instead of her true feelings. Security cameras, plus curious co-workers, not a good combination. She doubted she could hide her true emotions from so powerful a telepath as him, but she certainly tried.

He laughed and took half a step back, "If you insist." he said, eyes alight with genuine and relatively benign humour. If he had wanted to get the truth out of her, she would have been powerless to stop him from reading it in her mind, but he hadn't tried to look past what she had shown him. Was that trust or pride? She really wasn't sure.

But now, Jack could feel the waves of negative emotions from Martha... ranging from irritation at the display of affection, to outright hatred for the Master, to utter confusion at his behaviour, and a lot of other spiteful thoughts in-between.

The Master must have recognised it too- probably more clearly than Jack did- and smirked at Martha now, "Jealous, Miss Jones?" he taunted, deliberately misinterpreting what Jack knew perfectly well had nothing to do with jealousy.

"You're despicable." Martha hissed.

The Master made a show of pretending to yawn, "I've heard it all before, my dear. A little originality, next time."

Jack rolled her eyes, "As long as you're on my territory, you will play nice, or I'll beat the living hell out of you."

"Like to see you try." the Master growled in her ear. She was saved from the argument degenerating into something entirely immature, by a beeping sound in her other ear. The commlink activating. She quickly stepped away from the Master, and answered it, "What is it?"

"Owen's nearly at a hundred percent mutation, now." Ianto's voice reported.

"We'll be right there." Jack confirmed, before deactivating the comm and giving the Master a cold look, "I do understand how you feel about this... but touch me again, and I will hurt you."

x x x


End file.
